Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Come on, man.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

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

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The lights are all blinking red.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“But what about the lurkers?”

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

White supremacy is terrorism.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Actual Censorship

Actual Censorship

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You know how wingnuts are always meeping about their free speech rights being violated when a private company shitcans someone who reveals himself as a misogynist tool, homophobic prick or racist shithead? And we have to patiently explain yet again that the First Amendment protects people from government censorship, not marketplace fallout from spouting off?

Well, this happened today:

Huckabee-Sanders, a White House official, deems the (accurate!) anti-Trump comments of ESPN analyst Jemele Hill a “firing offense.” I’ll be over here waiting for the anti-political correctness mob to assemble. Right here in this retro phone booth.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  1. 1.

    lgerard

    Speaking of censorship

    Who’s marching with the Juggallos in DC on Saturday?

    There also seems to be so kind of trump event called the MOAR (mother of all rallies) run by some grade Z trump supporters I have never heard of.

    Hopefully the twain shall meet!

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    I’ll be over here waiting for the anti-political correctness mob to assemble. Right here in this retro phone booth.

    “This looks like a job for Captain Obvious!”

  4. 4.

    jacy

    The fact that his actions regarding the Central Park Five should have made him unable to show his face in public for all eternity, let alone utterly disqualified him from any sort of public office still just leaves me sputtering with anger. And anybody who says that Trump is not a racist is too stupid to tie their own shoes. (And SHS is piece of shit too. Which is being ungenerous to actual pieces of shit.)

  5. 5.

    Sab

    She is good at her job. I loved watching Obama’s guys. I hated watching Sean Spicer flopsweating. There is none that with her. She is a true sociopath. Born and bred and raised to the job.

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    Jemele Hill spoke the truth. The WH does not want to sign off on a bill condemning white supremacists. Think about that and tell ESPN to F off.

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    Oh, man. Nicolle Wallace is wearing some kind of pajamas on her show today and I am all about it.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    Why for F’s sake are they still putting Glenn “Nutsack” Thrush on air about anything Trump related?

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    @Corner Stone:

    Why for F’s sake are they still putting Glenn “Nutsack” Thrush on air about anything Trump related?

    To prove there is no just and loving god?

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev: I can’t watch SHS speak. Her mouth moving in that weird Papa Huckabee way and her pencil thin eyebrows going in different directions drives me insane.

  12. 12.

    Eljai

    I stand with Jemele. She’s brave and she’s doing what certain so-called journalists at the FTFNYT should be doing: Telling people the truth.

  14. 14.

    khead

    Jemele Hill does not need to be fired. I’m old enough to remember the folks who were upset over Tech Bro getting fired. Amazingly, I can’t find any of those folks lining up for Jemele.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @Corner Stone: You’re alive! (Sorry if this is belated notice — I was dealing with a hurricane of my own and have been scarcer, but folks were wondering where you’d been and if you’d survived Harvey.)

  16. 16.

    Gelfling 545

    @Sab: But her Daddy was a minister. You’d think he’d have talked to her about that bearing false witness stuff.

  17. 17.

    The Moar You Know

    You’d think he’d have talked to her about that bearing false witness stuff.

    @Gelfling 545: Pretty sure he did, rather extensively. She’s easily as good at it as he is.

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    @Betty Cracker: We, and my house, came through Harvey with superficial wind damage, thanks. I saw your post on your return to paradise after you evacced but didn’t want to compare notes on that until we see how bad it is for everyone. I mentioned flashes of PTSD from Hurricane Ike in 2008 and that was not a joke. Harvey had me questioning reality for about 6 days because It.Just.Would.Not.Stop.
    After Harvey my son and I spent a bunch of time helping my ex’s family start recovering (she has a huge family and there was a wide degree of damage) and I did some small logistics assistance with a local volunteer group.
    Before Harvey…well, that’s a different story altogether.

  19. 19.

    boatboy_srq

    Ask any Reichwingnut: freedumb of speech is only guaranteed for speech they agree with, and extends to preservation of status, employment, respect and all other elements that are within or beyond the reach of the First Amendment, whether the speech is accurate/factual or biased/bigoted/opinionated. For Liebrul Soshulist Demoncrats, speech is AYOR and no freedumb obtains.

    /s

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dmsilev:

    I don’t know who does Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ makeup, but IMO all that rouge is a firing offense.

    / End lookist rant against SHS. For the time being.

  22. 22.

    germy

    And again:

    ROCKFORD, Wash. (AP) – Officials say one person was killed and at least three others were shot when a gunman opened fire at a high school in Washington state.

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    @lgerard:

    Who’s marching with the Juggallos in DC on Saturday?

    No way no how…there’s not enough Faygo or Fanta (or whatever it is) in the world. I will be at the Nats game, however!

  24. 24.

    germy

    NEW YORK (AP) — The publisher of Hillary Clinton’s new book “What Happened” is questioning Amazon reviews posted within a day of the book’s release.

    As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,500 reviews appeared on Amazon. Many contained little information about the book and instead offered high praise or sharp criticism of the Democratic candidate.

    Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp tells The Associated Press: “It seems highly unlikely that approximately 1,500 people read Hillary Clinton’s book overnight and came to the stark conclusion that it is either brilliant or awful.”

    He says Simon & Schuster hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.

  25. 25.

    randy khan

    @dmsilev:

    Whatever else you want to say about Spicer (and I, personally, would have a *lot* else to say about him), he had an actual history in roles like the press secretary job, so he had some idea what he was doing. In a less-crazy Administration, he probably would have seemed pretty normal for a Republican. SHS, on the other hand, had no real experience in press relations before she got the deputy secretary job.

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    Wait, Flynn left even more stuff off of that security clearance. What is this, the sixth or seventh time?

    Former business associates of Michael Flynn have told lawmakers that he traveled to the Middle East in 2015 as part of a private proposal to build nuclear power plants across the region, a trip that the former Trump administration national security adviser never disclosed during his security clearance process.

    In a letter released today, two top House Democrats reveal that companies involved in the proposal provided details of Flynn’s trip in June 2015 that suggest he also failed to report contacts with Israeli and Egyptian government officials. The lawmakers — Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Rep. Eliot Engel of New York — are now asking the companies and Flynn to provide the names and nationalities of any officials he met with during the trip abroad.

    Maybe it would be simpler to have a list of the countries Flynn wasn’t whoring himself out to.

  28. 28.

    randy khan

    @germy:

    He says Simon & Schuster hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.

    Good luck with that.

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    @randy khan: Spicer was awful at the job and had no business being in front of a camera as a rep for the WH. Any WH.
    SHS is just a straight flack, with no compunction to even make it look above board.

  30. 30.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy:

    Simon & Schuster hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.

    And I hope to win the next Powerball jackpot.

  31. 31.

    HeleninEire

    Just had an awesome birthday dinner at McSwiggens in Galway. Next time y’all are in Ireland go there! Excellent menu but also very “pubby”

    A little bit drunk. But drunk in a good birthday way. The sauvignon blanc from Chile was fabulous.

  32. 32.

    SenyorDave

    Well, I happen to think that the siding with nazis and klansmen is a firing offense for POTUS. So there.

    BYW, SHS is just acting like her father, a lying SOS, taught her. Mike Huckabee has been scamming people for years on his various websites, even being a pitchman at one point for a company claiming to reverse diabetes. No surprise that his daughter works for the con artist supreme, Trump.

  37. 37.

    Eric U.

    given the subject of the recent rash of “free speech” rallies, “free speech” now means hate speech

  38. 38.

    JMG

    Jamele Hill is now bulletproof. Nothing could make her job (and subsequent promotions to better jobs) safer than what Sanders did. ESPN can’t say boo to her, because they’d look like they were caving to Trump to punish an African-American woman. This could lead to real disasters for them such as losing access to the likes of LeBron, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Cam Newton, Serena, etc. It’s a tricky business, marketing the deeds of young African Americans to white male couch potatoes.

  39. 39.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule:

    Wait, Flynn left even more stuff off of that security clearance. What is this, the sixth or seventh time?

    He and Jared cheated off of each other’s forms.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    The Possum Queen, holding court. Who doubts she would smite people, if she could?

    Big yawn about the rightwingers and their fee-fees. Did notice Fox News seemed to be discussing “ESPN” for quite some time, as I channel surfed (never alighting there; do not get out of the boat). Never curious enough to find out why. Poor babies. They may be wetting themselves.

    Again. Yawn.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    What in the name of absolute fuck is “Megyn Kelly Today” supposed to be? Haven’t these guys got it yet? She was successful because 70 year old white men lusted after the blond goddess look. She’s garbage outside of that environment. And ratings poison.

  44. 44.

    germy

    Statement from Hatch:

    It’s high time to address research into medical marijuana. Our country has experimented with a variety of state solutions without properly delving into the weeds on the effectiveness, safety, dosing, administration, and quality of medical marijuana. All the while, the federal government strains to enforce regulations that sometimes do more harm than good. To be blunt, we need to remove the administrative barriers preventing legitimate research into medical marijuana, which is why I’ve decided to roll out the MEDS Act.”

    I urge my colleagues to join Senator Schatz and me in our joint effort to help thousands of Americans suffering from a wide-range of diseases and disorders. In a Washington at war with itself, I have high hopes that this bipartisan initiative can be a kumbaya moment for both parties.

  46. 46.

    sherparick

    @dmsilev: She is all into the authoritarianism. On a real roll this week threatening: James Comey with a political prosecution and now trying to get a Black female announcer at ESPN fired for criticizing her boss. Both Sides because some right wingers looking for extra grift get heckled on a college campus.

  47. 47.

    japa21

    @germy: In the article I erad on the shooting this little tidbit was included:

    The United States has had an average of 52 school shooting incidents a year since a gunman killed 26 young children and educators in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group founded in response to that massacre.

    But it is not the right time to discuss gun control because that would be politicizing a tragedy. And only the GOP is allowed to do that.

  49. 49.

    efgoldman

    @randy khan:

    SHS, on the other hand, had no real experience in press relations before she got the deputy secretary job.

    And yet, she makes Ron Ziegler (“modified limited hangout”) look look an oracle of all truth

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @Gelfling 545:

    But her Daddy was a minister. You’d think he’d have talked to her about that bearing false witness stuff.

    It doesn’t count if they’re enemies of the Republican Party God. You aren’t required to pull any punches when you’re dealing with politics Satan.

  52. 52.

    germy

    @japa21: I remember when President Bush the 1st cancelled his NRA membership because of their rhetoric. The letter he wrote is still floating around online.

  53. 53.

    japa21

    Just listened to her answer. To all and any AA commenters, I didn’t think Senator Scott was a highly respected leader of the AA community. Is he?

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:

    He says Simon & Schuster hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.

    Why should this one item be different from everything else on Amazon?

  57. 57.

    efgoldman

    @japa21:

    I didn’t think Senator Scott was a highly respected leader of the AA community. Is he?

    In RWNJ delusion-world? Absolutely

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @TenguPhule:

    Maybe it would be simpler to have a list of the countries Flynn wasn’t whoring himself out to.

    How dare you insult honest, hard working sex workers with this comparison!

  61. 61.

    lamh36

    @rodimusprime
    Following
    More
    ESPN finding out that not picking a side is picking a side under this administration.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @japa21: I have no idea, but your question prompted me to google. I thought this was interesting: Read Senator Tim Scott’s Candid Account of Getting Stopped by Police

    Katie Reilly
    Jul 14, 2016
    U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, spoke out on Wednesday about the “trust gap” that exists between law enforcement officers and black communities, detailing his personal experience with discrimination.

    “While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have, however, felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted,” Scott said. “I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.”

    Here’s what he said in his speech to colleagues in the U.S. Senate:
    Mr. President, I rise today to give my second speech this week discussing the issues we are facing as a nation following last week’s tragedies in Dallas, Minnesota, and Baton Rouge. This speech is perhaps the most difficult because it’s the most personal.

    On Monday, I talked about how the vast majority of our law enforcement officers have only two things in mind: protect and serve. But as I noted then, we do have serious issues that must be resolved. In many cities and towns across the nation, there is a deep divide between the black community and law enforcement. A trust gap, a tension that has been growing for decades. And as a family, one American family, we cannot ignore these issues because while so many officers do good — and we should be thankful, as I said on Monday, we should be very thankful and supportive of all those officers that do good. Some simply do not. I’ve experienced it myself. And so today I want to speak about some of those issues, not with anger, though I have been angry. I tell my story not out of frustration, though at times I have been frustrated. I stand here before you today because I’m seeking for all of us, the entire American family, to work together so we all experience the lyrics of a song that we can hear but not see: peace, love, and understanding.

    Because I shuddered when I heard Eric Garner say, “I can’t breathe.” I wept when I watched Walter Scott turn and run away and get shot and killed from the back. And I broke when I heard the 4-year-old daughter of Philando Castile’s girlfriend tell her mother, “It’s okay. I’m right here with you.” These are people lost forever — fathers, brothers, sons.

  65. 65.

    germy

    @Roger Moore: I remember the blurb Groucho Marx wrote for a friend’s book:

    “From the moment I picked up your book to the moment I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend to read it.”

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    Hmmm, get back to me next time Scampernick plays a down in the NFL.

    If Mike MacCagnan and Woody Johnson were not such complete morons vis-a-vis QBs, they could pick him up and immediately upgrade the Jets’ offense. Well, unless McCown, Petty, Hackenberg have magically turned into non-mediocre QBs in the last 3 days.

  70. 70.

    germy

    wikipedia:

    In 2017, Senator Tim Scott was one of 22 senators to sign a letter to President Donald Trump urging the President to have the United States withdraw from the Paris Agreement. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Scott has received over $540,000 from oil, gas and coal interests since 2012

  71. 71.

    The Moar You Know

    He says Simon & Schuster hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.

    @germy: Has Mr. Karp even been on the internet before?

    Amazon reviews are at best barely helpful.

  72. 72.

    Corner Stone

    @SFAW: I have no idea how anyone thought Hackenberg deserved to be drafted or remain on a roster. I mean, it’s not like he was tutored by the ultimate QB whisperer Coach Cutcliffe of anything.

  74. 74.

    randy khan

    @Corner Stone:

    My take, which I recognize may be contrarian, was that Spicer was terrible at the job because he actually wanted to do it the way that his predecessors had, but couldn’t because his boss was a total nightmare for a press secretary. That’s why I think he would have been okay in a non-crazy Administration. He was a pretty standard attack dog press guy for the RNC, for instance.

    SHS, in comparison, doesn’t know what she is and isn’t supposed to do. I mean, really, the White House does not call for broadcasters to be fired or for the DoJ to prosecute people it doesn’t like (and I bet both of those were freelanced, although I’m also sure Trump liked that she went there in both cases). That’s just not the way it’s done, and doing so (particularly saying Hill should be fired) makes you look ridiculous.

    In the long run, stuff like this will make her job harder, too, as I doubt reporters have one bit of sympathy for her. From what I hear, some of them felt a little bit sorry for Spicer.

  75. 75.

    Millard Filmore

    @Gelfling 545:

    You’d think he’d have talked to her about that bearing false witness stuff.

    But that Bible stuff is about bearing false witness AGAINST thy neighbor. Its ok to bear false witness FOR thy neighbor.

  76. 76.

    sharl

    It’s a prettty crude call-out by Huckabee-Sanders – everything by and from this bunch is crude – but it ain’t new. The odious Ari Fleischer comes to mind, although he had a politically convenient crisis at his disposal. Bill Maher – an asshole but one making a thoughtful point – sure learned HIS lesson when ABC jumped in fear and fired him:

    — Fleischer, responding to comments from television host Bill Maher that U.S. military strikes, not hijacked planes, show cowardice (see page 11).

    “It’s now time to be extremely cautious about what we report. Please take great care to make sure that our broadcasts don’t inadvertently pass along information that could prove helpful to those who would do harm to our citizens, our officials and our military. Let’s be careful about reporting specifics of presidential travel, of security arrangements, of secret military plans, troop movements and the like. Generally it’s the rule of common sense that applies.”

    The more effective way to execute this kind of sleazy response is to let surrogates do your work for you. That’s basically what happened with the Dixie Chicks when Natalie Maines criticized Dubya. The group lost all sorts of radio airplay and ticket and album sales.

    I don’t know that what happened to Maher or the Dixie Chicks needed much White House intervention, given the mood of the country of the time (shortly after 9/11/2001). Huckabee-Sanders doesn’t have the advantage of a recent 9/11. She will have to settle for riling up the already riled Trumpkins. There are plenty of surrogates to do the riling though, including Bannon’s Breitbart and the malevolent flying monkeys with keyboards who inhabit that world. Unfortunately I don’t have any evidence that ESPN management is any braver than ABC was back in the day; hopefully they are.

  78. 78.

    randy khan

    @Corner Stone:

    Kap doesn’t have a job because of the owners and coaches (who after some of what happened last week look really, really stupid in addition to looking racist), not because of other NFL players or TV viewers.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    I have no idea how anyone thought Hackenberg deserved to be drafted or remain on a roster.

    No shit. I got an e-mail during pre-season, with the subject “I just saw Hackenberg throw a pass …” and the body of the e-mail was ” … that went 5 yards, but wasn’t deflected, and he wasn’t under pressure.” Kinda says it all right there.

    I’d take a 54-year-old Vinny T over these mooks.

    I mean, it’s not like he was tutored by the ultimate QB whisperer Coach Cutcliffe of anything.

    I don’t get the ref, I expect I need to look some things up. But, for the IQ-impaired: is Cutcliffe supposed to be a good QB coach? And has Hackysack been coached by him?

  81. 81.

    randy khan

    @SFAW:

    I think the Jets are a special case, since they appear to want to lose to get the #1 draft pick. But there are about 15 other teams that probably could use a guy with his skills, at least as a backup.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @randy khan: SHS was clearly reading from a card of talking points when she attacked Comey for two days. That was not freelance. As for Spicer, I say he was fine for an RNC attack dog. But standing behind the podium of the WH is a different deal. Ari Fleischer, may the devil take his soul when the time comes, besmirched the office as bad as I have ever seen, SHS has abandoned all hope of competence and pretense and just went straight attack flack. She is the ultimate expression of garbage that is this WH.

  83. 83.

    The Moar You Know

    @germy: That’s a pretty transparent attempt by Hatch to keep the devil weed illegal. They’ll staff that committee with representatives from Big Pharma and police unions, do a few months of “research”, declare that medical marijuana does more harm than good and pass federal laws banning it outright.

    Locally, our nice liberal gay police chief came out literally screaming at the city council for allowing CA state law to supersede local idiocy and allow retail marijuana sales. She said that taxes could not possibly pay for the amount of social harm this would cause. Since she presides over some of the nation’s most lunatic cowboy cops, who are going to run amuck even worse when they can no longer run brown men in for possession of a joint, she might actually have a valid point.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @randy khan:

    Kap doesn’t have a job because of the owners and coaches (who after some of what happened last week look really, really stupid in addition to looking racist), not because of other NFL players or TV viewers.

    Truth.

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    @randy khan: I am not sure what your counter is here. Jemele Hill did what Kap did, spoke the truth. If Jemele Hill is somehow bulletproof because of the fear of black athlete activism, then why isn’t Kap playing?

  96. 96.

    efgoldman

    @Corner Stone:

    If Jemele Hill is somehow bulletproof because of the fear of black athlete activism, then why isn’t Kap playing?

    C’mon, CS. You know the obvious answer: they report up different food chains. Hill works for ESPN/ABC/Disney; not (directly) the NFL owners. who have blackballed Kaep.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    If Jemele Hill is somehow bulletproof because of the fear of black athlete activism, then why isn’t Kap playing?

    There’s a difference between disrespecting Lying Littledick and “disrespecting” the flag. Well, to some, at least.

  105. 105.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    ESPN once suspended it’s highest rated host Tony Kornheiser for two weeks for saying a co worker’s mini skirt was inappropriate work attire.

    But because Kornheiser was close friends with Obama somehow the wingnuts didn’t invoke their usual freedumb defense.

  107. 107.

    randy khan

    @Corner Stone:

    See efgoldman’s response, in part.

    Specifically talking about the NFL versus ESPN (and not, for instance, the NBA), the NFL players, as a group and individually, need the NFL and can hardly boycott the league because that’s how they make their money. ESPN, on the other hand, depends in part on the cooperation of the athletes, who can be nice or mean, help it or ignore it, without much impact on their earning potential or ability to play in their leagues. Firing Hill for saying what so many black athletes think likely would have repercussions for ESPN, at least in terms of what kind of cooperation it would get from those athletes (and particularly NBA players, many of whom are fairly outspoken about Trump). Not hiring Kap has very little impact on whether black athletes will play football; in fact, it probably has the effect of making them less likely to protest, which the NFL undoubtedly likes.

  108. 108.

    lamh36

    @JMG: I’m of the opposite mind. I think Jemele may well get fired. The silence by ESPN right now is the lawyers trying to see how to get out of the shitstorm the PR department made by elevating this above an internal company issue by issuing that bullshit as apology statement throwing Jemele under the bus.

    It’s the apology statement that caused the issue to begin trending. It wasn’t a blimp on the radar, for much until after that statement.

    Jemele’s been suspended once, as soon as RWNJ found out bout that…ESPN may well get more shit from them…so another suspension would not be enough to to quiet those assholes.

    The PR team HAD to escalate this by issuing that bullshit statement…and now it’s come to bite they azz

    As I said up thread:

    @rodimusprime
    ESPN finding out that not picking a side is picking a side under this administration.
    3:50 PM – Sep 13, 2017

    I sincerely hope all the big time athletes from a variety of the sports arena stand up and back Jemele…ESPN cannot survive those athletes deciding ESPN is persona non grata…

  109. 109.

    randy khan

    @SFAW:

    There are a lot of commentators who seem to think that’s their plan, and I have to say that from what little attention I’m paying to them, it’s certainly consistent with what they’ve done on the personnel front. Still, you do have to wonder if they’re competent enough to do that intentionally.

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    @Major Major Major Major: I think he was only in the Patriots’ Owners Box.
    Point being, just taking one team, my Texans, Kap is clearly better than Tom. Savage. Sign Kap to back up DeShaun Watson. That way if something happens to Watson or he stalls out the similar offensive approach would move forward with not much pause. And I am not a big Scampernick fan. But he is demonstratively better than 50% of all current backups and at least 6 starters.

  112. 112.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: I am friends with Kent Haruf’s stepdaughter (in fact, going to see her tonight) and she and her mother both got to visit on-set with RR and JF when they were filiming on location in Florence. They both said RR was a delightful person and still swoony even after all these years, which I readily believe. : )

  113. 113.

    schrodingers_cat

    You know what is beautiful inside and out, Sufi and Bhakti poetry (mystical strands of Islam and Hinduism, respectively)
    A. R. Rahman (Slumdog fame) sings Pathaka Guddi, makes me want to make a road trip across northern Indian Himalayan foothills. So beautiful. From Imtiaz Ali’s Highway.
    ETA: He is singing in Punjabi, while Rahman himself is Tamil. The two languages have as much in common as perhaps English and Russian.

  118. 118.

    Corner Stone

    @lamh36: It’s a diminutive of his last name combined with my assessment of his style of play. I am not a fan of QB’s who rely on running outside the pocket to try and extend plays. They do not fare very well in the modern NFL unless they are built like Cam. And we are seeing the effects of his style of play even on a very special physical specimen.

  119. 119.

    grandpa john

    @japa21: I live in SC and had
    never heard of him until his appointment.Since I live in the upstate we hear little of the doings down in low state swampland,but him being a black staunch republican, I doubt that he is accepted as a voice of the black community

  123. 123.

    Mart

    Reminds me of Chez Pazienza, who was fired from CNN for his blog “Deus Ex Malcontent”; where he spent a lot of time bitching about CNN. CNN had rules against that. Would expect team Disney to have strict social media protocol that assume she did not follow, and she could be “legitimately” fired. Hope not.

    FYI for those familiar with Chez – I did not follow him much when Malcontent mostly shut down and he moved to Daily Banter. Doing the Google found he had died in February – smoking heroin in his car. Killing himself with his old habits. Dammit.

  125. 125.

    randy khan

    @Mart:

    I would guess that if ESPN/Disney did not fire her immediately, that they did not consider it a firing offense. Of course, I’m sure they give themselves plenty of wiggle room to impose a range of penalties for violating their policies, so they may also be able to fire her for that even now if they want. And of course they always can just take someone off the air and pay off her contract if they want.

  127. 127.

    Gretchen

    @japa21: yes, Trump talked to the one black wingnut and that counts as outreach to them. There’s an entire Black Congressional Conference he could have talked to if he needed outreach.

  128. 128.

    Gretchen

    SHS looks like she’s shifting a crowbar from hand to wait waiting for him to realize that she’s about to brain him.

  130. 130.

    Davebo

    @Corner Stone: While I agree regarding Kapernick the Texans need to address the O Line immediately meaning pay Brown whatever he wants (within reason) and find someone else to replace their bust pick Su’a-Filo.

    Until that’s done it doesn’t matter who they start at QB.

  131. 131.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mart: Jamielle’s critique of Trump has nothing to do with her job at ESPN. Surely she didn’t give up her free speech rights to criticize the “President” when she was hired at ESPN. I don’t watch ESPN but I hope that Black professional athletes boycott that station if she is fired. It feels as if we need to go back to the 1960s Civil Rights movement with all this nonsense that is going on now.

  132. 132.

    Davebo

    @Patricia Kayden:

    First, ESPN isn’t threatening her free speech rights.

    Second, I would be blown away if ESPN does anything more than it already has which apparently was apparently just a talk.

  133. 133.

    Corner Stone

    @Van Buren: Actually, the easier knock against my comment is Ben Roethlisberger. Rodgers, in most cases, steps up in the pocket to complete plays and will sometimes make the jog forward for a first down. Ben will move laterally and take hit after hit, shrug them off and make a throw.
    QB’s with a run first mindset, like Kap, RGIII and a few others don’t have a lot of success for very long because the DE’s are as fast/faster as most of the LB’s they played against in college. Cam is a special case in that he’s just physically so dominant he could take a few shots, and the fucking NFL let teams take screaming ass shots at him, but that caught up to him.
    Russell Wilson is not a run first QB (any longer, IMO) but the first two or so seasons he did rely more on his legs. We have seen that slow down quite a bit the last year and I suspect that will continue this year as well.
    IMO, DeShaun Watson is not long for this league either.

  134. 134.

    Corner Stone

    @Davebo: I also say get Brown in there ASAP. But he’s not going to fix the O line. And he’s not going to get Braxton Miller or Will Fuller back in the lineup any sooner either. When a team can double off Hopkins and rush 4 or 5 every down the Texans are going to have a problem. I will never understand why they can’t pay for a high quality TE option, either. When Fiedorowicz went out we basically had my uncle playing TE. Savage had at least 8 plays where I said out loud, “throw it!” three times before he was sacked or tossed it. That is not an O line problem, all by itself. Watson is a much better athlete but he was sacked four times as well. There is no one that can get separation and first look targeting Hopkins is a killer because everyone knows it’s all we have.

  135. 135.

    Josie

    @Corner Stone: Glad to see you back and to hear that you survived Harvey with minimal damage. I was at my son’s house during the storm, but his neighborhood remained high and dry, thank goodness. We were, however, unable to go anywhere due to the rain and flooding all around us and were stuck in the house for five days with an active two year old. Still, we felt very lucky when we saw how much others had suffered. My son couldn’t get to work and did what you did, helping others with clean up and demolition after the waters went down a bit.

  136. 136.

    Davebo

    I think the tight ends were serviceable but hey, injuries. Savage is a statute but again, it’s the line that’s killing them. That, and Rick Smith. Su’a-Filo was essentially a first round pick and is a total bust.

    They don’t have a 1st or 2nd round pick next draft but they do have cap space. Time so spend it on a solid right tackle.

  138. 138.

    Mart

    @Patricia Kayden: Pretty sure I am wrong and ESPN is not going to fire her. That said of course a media company can contractually require no politics in your social media. Look at all the bad press from the left and right ESPN has had to put up with. This is by God America, what judge would stand in the way of a corporation to crush an individual’s free will?

  142. 142.

    Sir Bedevere

    Follow-up question for SHE: should someone who over and over again accuses the president of lying be fired?

    (One thing many forget about birtherism is that it was a claim that President Obama had been lying about his birthplace. Hence Trump was calling him a liar.)

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I keep meaning to ask you, what is your opinion of Rabindranath Tagore? I am an admirer of his poetry, but I freely admit it is because my grandmother loved him and used to read him aloud to me when I was a child, so it’s hard for me to be objective. And of course I know his work only in English translation.

  145. 145.

    Patricia Kayden

    @japa21: Not among any African Americans/Blacks I know. As a Black woman, I give serious side eye to all Republicans including those of color.

  146. 146.

    schrodingers_cat

    @SiubhanDuinne: I am not too familiar with Tagore’s work other than the Indian National anthem and Kabuliwala, a movie based on Tagore’s short story about an Afghan refugee in Calcutta, who is wrongly framed for a crime he did not commit. While I can understand some Bengali, I cannot read or write it.

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