Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

The willow is too close to the house.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Find the girl, Mr. Gittes

Find the girl, Mr. Gittes

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I find this story fascinating in a Chinatown/Citizen Kane kind of way: a senile Sumner Redstone (head of Viacom and CBS) called reporter Peter Lauria and left a rambling voice message about trying to figure out who was bad-mouthing Redstone’s girl-band project the “Electric Barbarellas”. The reporter goes public with the call — along with a subsequent interview of Redstone — and is trashed by CNBC “journalist” Dennis Kneale for doing so. (It goes without saying that Kneale is a toady and an embarrassment to his so-called profession.)

What I really like is the content of Redstone’s voicemail message:

“You may be reluctant, but we have to have [for the lawsuit] the name of the person who gave you that story,” Redstone says in the voicemail, the “we” being himself and Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. “We’re not going to kill him. We just want to talk to him. We’re not going to fire him. We just want to talk to him.” (As Frank Biondi, Mel Karmazin, Tom Freston, and even Tom Cruise can attest, Redstone is famous for such tolerance about opposing viewpoints, and would surely never fire someone just on a whim.)

Redstone went on to say: “You will be thoroughly protected. We’re not going to hurt this guy. We just want to sit him down and find out why he did what he did. You will not in any way be revealed. You will be well-rewarded and well-protected.”

There’s something about the story that is perfect: crazy old billionaire falls in love with an all-girl band, launches scorched-earth campaign to find the person who has been bad-mouthing said band, then has his minions in the media trash the reporter who writes about the campaign. It’s a timeless American story of greed, cowardice, lust, and lunacy.

And the good guy in the story is named Peter Lauria! You can’t make this stuff up.

Reader Interactions

14Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    Did Redstone marry all the members of the band and take them away to live in his castle?

    The emphasis on “not hurting” and especially “not killing” is highly creepy. With this kind of intimidation, it is no wonder our media sucks as much as it does.

  3. 3.

    DougJ

    @beltane:

    Did Redstone marry all the members of the band and take them away to live in his castle?

    I wondered the same thing.

  10. 10.

    DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective

    John Huston in Chinatown is just one of the greatest treasures in all of cinema.

    Thank you for making me think of it.

  13. 13.

    Mr. Wonderful

    EXCELLENT TITLE. Do you want to hear my impression of John Huston? Oh shut up, you do so. Listen:

    “Just…find the girl.”

    Not bad, eh?

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