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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / So What Were You Guys Doing?

So What Were You Guys Doing?

by John Cole|  November 11, 20097:06 pm| 72 Comments

This post is in: Media, Clown Shoes

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I just started watching Hardball, and Matthews told me to make sure I didn’t miss a segment from the the Daily Show clip in which Jon Stewart nails Fox news using old footage to pretend that last week’s Dachaupalooza on the Capitol steps had hundreds of thousands of attendees.

That’s great, and everything, but why the hell is it up to Comedy Central to expose all the lies of the GOP and their paid mouthpieces? Shouldn’t a political show, say, one named HARDBALL, be breaking this sort of news, and not the network that shows South Park and Secret Girlfriend?

What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

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72Comments

  1. 1.

    calipygian

    November 11, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    If you’re Tweety, you’re busy getting a shivver up your leg every five minutes.

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    November 11, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    What’s the over-under on whether Howard Kurtz, who styles himself as the leading media critic, covers this little oopsie either in print or on his CNN show?

    And Dobbs is giving his farewell address right now. I think George Washington doesn’t have to worry much about competition.

    -dms

  3. 3.

    Rosali

    November 11, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    Lou Dobbs just announced he’s leaving CNN.
    There goes a great reporter.
    /snark

  4. 4.

    MikeJ

    November 11, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    The Rolling Stones have hired reporters now? Not Rolling Stone, the magazine named after the line from a Muddy Waters song?

  5. 5.

    J.

    November 11, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    Botox… dye jobs… sucking up to corporate… Twitter… covering Sarah Palin’s every move… talking about the weather…

  6. 6.

    martha

    November 11, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    John, it depresses me terribly that you (and we) even have to ask that question.

    Emperors, no clothes, and all that.

    Also.

  7. 7.

    handy

    November 11, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    If MSNBC is the liberal version of Fox as wingnuts like to point out then…we need a better liberal media. Because the one we’ve got is broken.

  8. 8.

    HumboldtBlue

    November 11, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    Well, Lou Dobbs is resigning from CNN so now maybe they can doctor some violent anti-immigration rallies as well. It is FOX news after all, where the fox is real but the news is not.

  9. 9.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 11, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    It ain’t news till Stewart says it is. Which is the way it should be on Planet Wrongway.

  10. 10.

    javafascist

    November 11, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    CBS is nailing Republican Rep Steve Buyer right now, actually. Nice to see every once in a while.

  11. 11.

    calipygian

    November 11, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    Hey look! Isn’t that a little boy in a giant mylar balloon outside?

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    November 11, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    @calipygian: That was one of the most disturbing moments in live TV that I’ve ever seen. And the expression on Olbermann’s face was priceless, sort of a “back away slowly, make no sudden moves, now where is my can of Mace” look.

    -dms

  13. 13.

    superfly

    November 11, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    I think Secret Girlfriend is doing something on Teabaggers too this week.

    It might be about actual teabagging, but still, it will probably be more relevant than anything on CNN all week.

  14. 14.

    J.

    November 11, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    No shit. Lou Dobbs resigned. Guess I’ll have to cancel the Mariachi Band.

    Btw, @John Cole your last line should have read “What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter, a comedy network, and some guy named John Cole?”

  15. 15.

    Alan

    November 11, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    Matthew’s show should switch places with Dylan Ratigan. IMHO, Maddow and Ratigan should be headlining MSNBC.

  16. 16.

    Why oh why

    November 11, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Well, I know the New York Times at least is also watching FOX News very carefully, but only to make sure readers of the Gray Lady are “immediately aware” of breaking news like the ACORN video.

  17. 17.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Lou Dobbs just announced he’s leaving CNN.

    Good, let me know when he leaves the planet.

    John, crap like this by Faux (or any other ‘news’ outlet) isn’t news until a comic points it out and laughs at it. Once that happens then it’s now officially comedy news and can be reported as such.

    It’s how they cover (for) each other.

  18. 18.

    lamh31

    November 11, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    I was tempted to watch Lou’s swan song, but I don’t wanna give the bastards the last day ratings.

    Someone’s gotta watch it and post about it, so we don’t have to!!!!

    So any guesses on who’s gonna get the 7pm timeslot?
    Easy money is on Rick Sanchez, but I kinda hope it’s Christiane Amanpour.

  19. 19.

    Martin

    November 11, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    @calipygian:
    presumably in a giant balloon, but we’ll cover this giant balloon for the next 11 hours, that anyone with a 3rd year physics education could tell you doesn’t contain anything as heavy as little boy, because our audience believes it might contain a little boy.

    Hell, we’ve got 30 staffers making ‘Balloon Boy’ graphics, headlines, promos rather than observing what actually is happening in the world.

  20. 20.

    CalD

    November 11, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    Well in Matthews particular case, without getting too much into specifics, let’s just say it involves a picture of Mitt Romney, a bottle of lotion and a room with a locked door and leave it at that.

  21. 21.

    handy

    November 11, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    @Why oh why:

    Clark Hoyt is on it!

  22. 22.

    Alan

    November 11, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    @Rosali: Dobbs should go back to space.com where he can again be forgotten.

  23. 23.

    Emma Anne

    November 11, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    I think political reporting has always sucked. Watergate was broken by police reporters, not political reporters.

    Who was it who said the press corps is like six years old playing soccer? The ball pops up and they all go running towards it. Then it pops up somewhere else and they all run over there.

    Every time I see a White House press conference, I just marvel at the rows and rows of highly paid reporters all watching the same thing. Why don’t they send one guy and everyone else go find some news?

  24. 24.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 11, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    @superfly:

    I think Secret Girlfriend is doing something on Teabaggers too this week.
    It might be about actual teabagging, but still, it will probably be more relevant than anything on CNN all week.

    Based on the commercials, it looks like one of the characters is trying to create some kind of “greatest ever” viral video, and his masterplan is to…dip his johnson in a steaming hot cup of tea.

    Comedy gold, indeed.

    And isn’t it time someone went on Tweety’s show and told him to his face that he needs to change the name from “Hardball” to “Teeball” or something equally insulting? It’s well past time for that to happen, right?

    Also.

  25. 25.

    Martin

    November 11, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    @lamh31:

    It won’t be Amanpour. She’s the CNN Intl ringer and she won’t get a daily slot in the US. My guess is it’s Sanchez. He’s done a nice job of not looking like an idiot the last year, which always helps.

  26. 26.

    YellowJournalism

    November 11, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    People like Matthews are too busy trying to BE the news rather than reporting it and watching it, something else that was pointed out rather well on The Daily Show last night, too.

  27. 27.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 11, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    @calipygian:

    Hey look! Isn’t that a little boy in a giant mylar balloon outside?

    I think this is a good time to remind everyone that the helicopters weren’t joking.

  28. 28.

    martha

    November 11, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    You know who I really liked on CNN–Soledad O’Brien. Yes, she does documentaries and their specials, but I thought they blew it when they whacked her in the morning.

  29. 29.

    Max

    November 11, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Hannity is supposedly going to “address” this issue on his show tonight.

    Someone needs to take one for the team and watch it and report back.

  30. 30.

    Mike in NC

    November 11, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    A lot of them are waiting to breathlessly cover the Palin book tour later this month, to be followed shortly after by “A Very Wasilla Thanksgiving”, a FOX holiday special hosted by Greta Von Scientologist

    .

  31. 31.

    LoveMonkey

    November 11, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing

    Well, I assume that Matthews is doing what all the beltway insiders do, which is to lunch with the powerful, hang around the luxury boxes at the Redskins games, and go to parties in Georgetown. Living the life of the privileged and laughing his ass off at the rest of us.

    I like his occasional efforts at journalism, but I don’t like the way he sucks up relentlessly and shamelessly to the powerful. Right in front of the cameras.

  32. 32.

    John Cole

    November 11, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    @Max: Not it.

  33. 33.

    mellowjohn

    November 11, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    and the last couple days especially, tweety’s been up to his old tricks of asking questions and then talking over his guests as they try to answer.
    makes me want to jump thru the screen and slap the shit out of him!

  34. 34.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 11, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    And then Tweety finishes by asking WHO made the decision to use two different crowd videos and tells us to STAY TUNED, presumably while we wait for The Daily Show to find out.

  35. 35.

    YellowJournalism

    November 11, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    @Max: So which defense will it be?

    “This was an unintentional error on the part of our editors. I personally apologize for any misunderstanding.”

    “We were using the clip to show the overall support of the people taking back our government from the liberal elites.”

    “Come on! It was obvious which parts were the 9/12 rally and which parts were the House rally. Do you really think we’d try to fool our viewers into thinking otherwise?”

    “Well, there really were thousands and thousands there. Millions, even.”

    “Jon Stewart is picking on me.”

    “Liberal media.”

    “Balloon boy’s dad made me do it.”

  36. 36.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    November 11, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    @J.: Don’t forget getting wasted at Sally Quinn’s cocktail parties.

  37. 37.

    SteveCan

    November 11, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    handy: “If PMSNBC is the liberal version of Fox as wingnuts like to point out then…we need a better liberal media. Because the one we’ve got is broken.”

    I don’t know …. ‘Tingles” is always good for a laugh in our household.

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    November 11, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    @Max: I am *so* not going there. I’ll leave that to the professionals at Media Matters.

    -dms

  39. 39.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 11, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    @LoveMonkey:

    I like his occasional efforts at journalism, but I don’t like the way he sucks up relentlessly and shamelessly to the powerful. Right in front of the cameras.

    That’s the part that’ll get you every single time.

    “Tweety, er, Chris. How many times do we have to tell you? You can only shamelessly suck up to the powerful after the red light goes off. If you do it while the light is on, people will see you for the unprincipled moron–uh, I mean, people will see you for the inane, intellectually bankrupt–uh, IS THAT OBAMA BOWLING A GUTTER BALL OVER THERE?! Works every time.”

  40. 40.

    El Cid

    November 11, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    Matthews’ job is to play a role of the totally not millionaire workin’ class white ethnic stiff who makes sure that our great nation isn’t touched by the filthy hands of the ultraleft dirty hippies, but on occasion to notice that the right wing can get really nasty crazy.

  41. 41.

    Max

    November 11, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    @John Cole: Chicken.

  42. 42.

    mk3872

    November 11, 2009 at 8:04 pm

    … Because the U.S. MSM has no balls, no courage and is too afraid to offend Murdoch’s minions for fear of being ambushed by O’Reilly or savaged on a Beck or Limbaugh show.

    Plus, everyone in the press believes that they’ll one day work for a company owned by Murdoch, so they better be nice to FNC and other conservative media outlets.

  43. 43.

    Reason60

    November 11, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    The best explanation I have heard is that at one time journalists were largely high school graduates; in more recent decades they stated becoming college graduates, and sharing in the upward income trend of the well-educated.

    In other words, in todays world, none of the people talking about social issues- the Congressmen, the pundits, the newspaper writers, the television writers- none of them are working class, in fact the journalist class is of the same social class as the politicians they cover; the writers at Hardball send their kids to the same private schools as government officials, go to the same restaurants, belong to the same gyms, live in the same neighborhoods.

    The people they ostensibly talk about, the working class and non-working poor, the soldiers and sailors are for them an abstraction.

  44. 44.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    November 11, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    Serious people are too serious to do serious reporting.

    Besides, serious reporting involves such unpleasant behaviours as asking the great and the good questions they don’t want asked, printing things they don’t want printed and [shudder] research.

  45. 45.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    Not to give a break to the asshats that won’t even challenge politicians on their own shows when said pols lie, it would seem to be expanding the envelope a bit to expect news organizations to police all other news orgs. I understand that we’re talking about Fox, here, but there are a lot of news organizations. Where do you draw that line?

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    November 11, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    John, your comment just says it all.

    Sheesh.

  47. 47.

    Nutella

    November 11, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    @Emma Anne:

    Good analogy: Six year olds playing soccer.

    I remember when Clinton did one of his first Rose Garden ceremonies and Socks the cat wandered by. The press liked to make a big fuss about him having a cat so many of them rushed over to take pictures. One stepped back and published a picture of a dozen well-paid adults with many thousands of dollars in camera equipment, all in a tight circle photographing one small and confused cat.

    It summed up the value added by our fine journalist class to the national discourse.

    Here’s a smaller group harrassing Bo recently.

  48. 48.

    Nutella

    November 11, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    @Nutella:

    But since Bo is not a cat, he seems to be enjoying himself!

  49. 49.

    latts

    November 11, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    @Emma Anne:

    I’m pretty sure it was actually Jon Stewart– of William & Mary’s men’s soccer team & inspiration for the “Leibo” team award– who said that.

  50. 50.

    Left Coast Tom

    November 11, 2009 at 9:15 pm

    Shouldn’t a political show, say, one named HARDBALL, be breaking this sort of news, and not the network that shows South Park and Secret Girlfriend?

    In fact, wasn’t that a major point behind Stewart’s take-down of CNBC (via Cramer), that they should report news rather than fluff CEOs so he could go back to making fart noises?

  51. 51.

    demimondian

    November 11, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    A lot of them are waiting to breathlessly cover the Palin -book tour later this month-

    Fixt for accuracy.

  52. 52.

    Morbo

    November 11, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    Well, it’s very important how many women the president plays basketball with.

  53. 53.

    Johnny Pez

    November 11, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    Shouldn’t a political show, say, one named HARDBALL, be breaking this sort of news

    Nah, Tweety’s too busy defending Fox from those mean old White House people.

  54. 54.

    SensesFail

    November 11, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    Hannity is supposedly going to “address” this issue on his show tonight.

    He can do that right after he goes good on his word and gets waterboarded.

  55. 55.

    superfly

    November 11, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    Yeah, that’s what I saw, I thought I might have imagined that.

  56. 56.

    Kristine

    November 11, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    Couldn’t watch Hardball because Comcast here in northern Illinois pulled MSNBC off their basic/expanded basic list today. If I want it back, I need to upgrade my channel package. I wrote a complaint letter to Comcast, although I doubt it will do any good.

    In the meantime, I can watch Keith and Rachel via iTunes. It will have to do.

  57. 57.

    cleek

    November 11, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    what am i doing?

    just finished season 1 of The Wire.

    i tried to watch it a few years back but the first DVD didn’t really grab me or my wife. but she’s out of town this week so i gave it another try.

    and it was straight up fucking awesome.

    think i’m gonna be talkin like a hopper for the next few weeks, yo.

  58. 58.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    @Kristine:

    Let me guess, you still get Faux Nooz, right? ;)

  59. 59.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 11, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    @Kristine:

    Get yourself a Dish dish. I have the international package with CNN, MSNBC – cpan 1 and2 and even The Comedy Channel for 9.95 a month. Can’t beat that with a stick.

  60. 60.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 12, 2009 at 1:28 am

    @latts:

    w00t for William & Mary

  61. 61.

    John

    November 12, 2009 at 2:23 am

    Soledad O’Brien is such a phony. In April 2008, Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave a speech in Detroit to the NAACP.  One of the things that  he said in this speech was that black and white children learn with different parts of their brain, and then gave an “unflattering imitation of the way white pastors speak.”  Peoples comments were that he gave a racial speech. Soledad  O’Brien, on CNN, was quoted as saying, in a gushing manner, that the speech was a “home run” and “really funny.” When questioned about the things he said in the speech, she would say things like, what he really meant was …..or what he wanted to say was… Once again she’s covering the truth and being racist.  Just as with the Henry Gates incident.  In an appearance on Anderson Cooper, the night or so before CNN’s “The Moment of Truth” she appeared enraged that it was a racial profile against Gates. She said that she got calls from her FRIENDS saying it was all about Gates being black.  She went on that show with the purpose, at all costs, to destroy the credibility of the white police officer and throw him under the bus.  When Cooper was talking she wanted to make the point that Gates said “Thank You” to the police officers.  By mentioning that, she was purposely misrepresenting the truth by playing down Gates’ belligerence and racial remarks, which she didn’t even mention.  Even Gates’ attorney and friend, said to the media that he used very strong language. Colon Powell and President Obama both said he should take blame in the incident.  I have seen this in many occasions with her, where she doesn’t speak the truth and hides the true facts.  Another time on Anderson Cooper, Cooper said to O’Brien that Senator John McCain hasn’t brought race into the campaign, like he said he wouldn’t.  You would think her response would have been something like, that’s great because he shouldn’t.  Instead she strongly insinuated that he would, even in the last week of the campaign. Also, her questioning style, in interviews  is completely different with a white person than it is with a black person.  Like in her interview with Henry Gates in “The Moment of Truth”  She just went along with his lies. I have seen several comments on various websites about her racism.  There are many other examples I could give of her racial bias, dishonesty and hypocrisy. She seems to consider herself to be black. She mentioned in an interview that her parents made it clear to her “you’re black” and that’s all there is to it.
    She’s all about being #1, she wants the world to revolve around her. She comes first, before her family. She wants to be a celebrity figure and a star. In interviews she says she works 6 days a week, mostly out of town, and on some holidays. She goes to gala events, concerts, lots of entertainment events, as a single woman, leaving her husband and kids behind.
    I think Soledad O’Brien is a very poor journalist. What ever happened to the days of CNN with Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff? They were honorable journalists. You could believe what they said. John Las Vegas

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    November 12, 2009 at 2:37 am

    What exactly are our news reporters doing that the heavy lifting these days has been left to a Rolling Stones reporter and a comedy network?

    Amen, Cole. I was thinking the same thing yesterday when I got around to watching The Daily Show on the DVR. And it was so obvious! The skies were different, and the trees–of which there were many in the background–were completely different: late summer foliage vs. mid-autumn colors and molting. Even the “real” shots of the demonstration the other day were shot low and tight so the crowd would look (much) bigger than it was. Eisenstein would have been proud.

    Isn’t there some sort of “truth in advertising news” clause the FCC can invoke to kick Fox News in the junk? Or does it all come under the convenient heading of “entertainment”? Bah.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    November 12, 2009 at 2:43 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I think this is a good time to remind everyone that the helicopters weren’t joking laughing.

    Fix’d. And I’ve got the certs to prove it. I’ll e-mail them to Cole if you want.

    Oh, and why do you hate America?

  64. 64.

    Mouse Tolliver

    November 12, 2009 at 3:01 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    … it would seem to be expanding the envelope a bit to expect news organizations to police all other news orgs. I understand that we’re talking about Fox, here, but there are a lot of news organizations

    How is it expanding the envelope? CNN pays someone — Howard Kurtz — to police other news (b)orgs.

    Trouble is Kurtz is married to Republican media strategist Sheri Annis — a fact that he seldom discloses.

    Also, too, though…

    CNN has another star reporter, Campbell Brown, who’s married to Dan Senor, a Fox News contributor who served as a policy adviser to George W. Bush. She didn’t bother to mention this during her “No Bias, No Bull” segment where she mocked the Obama Administration’s criticism of Fox News.

    This glowing New York Times profile of the Brown/Senor wedding made me puke. Our “Liberal Media” at its worst.

  65. 65.

    Paul L.

    November 12, 2009 at 10:19 am

    I remember progressives claiming that the number attending the 9/12 march was next to nothing. Why would Fox News use footage of such a poor showing?
    as for Soledad O’Brien, I would like to see her interview with Crystal Mangum.

    Mangum reveals in her book that CNN’s Soledad O’Brien came to North Carolina this past January and interviewed her for four hours, but CNN never aired the footage. CNN has not returned her calls or explained why the interview did not air, Mangum said.

  66. 66.

    Aaron

    November 12, 2009 at 10:28 am

    @steeplejack

    Sadly, a Fox News case (big surprise) from a few years ago led to the court decision that it is not illegal to falsify the news.

    The media is in a bad way, and I wonder if “creative destruction” can even fix it. At some point the impetus for change has to lie in the viewers, as television news (in particular) is too profitable for those in charge to willingly change it

  67. 67.

    eyelessgame

    November 12, 2009 at 11:13 am

    Nobody said it better than Stewart himself about the failure of media:

    “You’re on CNN. The show leading into mine is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you?”

  68. 68.

    tess

    November 12, 2009 at 11:27 am

    @cleek

    Truedat. Indeed.

    (it stops about 3 months after the end of season 5)

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    November 12, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    @Paul L.:

    I remember progressives claiming that the number attending the 9/12 march was next to nothing. Why would Fox News use footage of such a poor showing?

    Any link for “next to nothing”? What I remember is “progressives” accepting the official estimates of 60-70,000 attendees and ridiculing the wingnuts’ claims that 1 million people attended. And, yes, there are links for all of that, on this site and elsewhere. But don’t let that get in the way of you making your point.

  70. 70.

    Lex

    November 12, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    I see Hannity is claiming that using the older video was “an honest mistake.” Didn’t one of those get Dan Rather fired?

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. No Shit « Beware The Man says:
    November 11, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    […] under Political | Tags: Balloon Juice, Chris Matthews, Hardball, John Cole | Leave a Comment  John Cole sums up just a whole gunnysack fulla problems. […]

  2. Steve Smith (tarkasteve) 's status on Thursday, 12-Nov-09 02:05:47 UTC - Identi.ca says:
    November 11, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    […] https://balloon-juice.com/?p=29646 a few seconds ago from Gwibber […]

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