Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Let there be snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

He really is that stupid.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: Happy Easter / April Fools Day, 2018!

Open Thread: Happy Easter / April Fools Day, 2018!

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On the other hand, this is what Christian Easter is supposed to convey…

Reader Interactions

178Comments

  2. 2.

    satby

    Well a certain pregnant semi-final cat is having a great day, she just doesn’t know it yet. Yes, I got her! And I say semi-feral, because she let me push her into a carrier; I now think she’s someone’s abandoned pet.
    Humane trap still up, hoping I catch the young cat I just spotted last night.

  3. 3.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    He couldn’t have just layed off the attacks for one day. He probably didn’t for Easter or Christmas last year either, so whatever.

  6. 6.

    Major Major Major Major

    I usually forget not to believe anything on the internet today, but this year I remembered! I’ll probably stick to drawing and reading one of those books you folks recommended.

    I unwisely trust y’all not to deceive me too much.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I wish I had known that was to the NYT.
    With that said, this is all I need to know about him:
    “President Ronald Reagan was General Ríos Montt’s most prominent admirer. After meeting him in 1982, Mr. Reagan said the general was “getting a bum rap on human rights.”

    ETA, one can only hope we reach this state of grace one day as a democracy:
    “By then, advances toward civilian democracy in Guatemala had made it feasible to indict him. An exhaustive “truth commission” investigation provided much evidence. More came from the excavation of mass graves.”

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Major Major Major Major: there have been 4/1 hoaxes that have stuck me as clever, though I can’t remember any right now. But these days reality is too distorted for anything to keep up.

    Or what @Baud: said

  12. 12.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Malevolent Fools. Stupid and mean and proud of it.
    I had two different types of cake, two different types of pies at the brunch this morning! Can one have too much dessert?

  15. 15.

    satby

    @JPL: I feel a little bad for her, she’s never going to trust me again, and that took a while to accomplish. But it’s for the greater good of all of them.

  21. 21.

    Sab

    @satby: Yay for you. Three of our four cats were semi-feral. Couldn’t get those three to go outside if their lives depended on it. Open the door and shriek and they head for the basement, not outside. They have lived rough and they have no intention of doing it again.

  22. 22.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @satby: she’ll trust you. She’s probably hungry. It’s the need to eat for six or seven that gets them to put up with being locked up by people.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    @Lapassionara: That was this morning when they let Trump have his phone.

    He was probably angry because his handlers said he had to go to church instead of the golf course.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    She will eventually forgive you once she realizes it means plenty of food and a safe place for her kittens. She won’t forget, but she’ll forgive.

  30. 30.

    Barbara

    There are a lot of contenders for who looks like the biggest fool for having supported Trump, but right now my contender is any Midwestern farmer who thought they would not be caught in the crossfire of Trump’s irrational hatred of Mexico and Mexicans.

  31. 31.

    Sab

    @schrodingers_cat: Do you know aything about Nepali food? We have a huge new Nepali community in my fair city, with some highly regarded restaurants. I want the spouse and me to break out of our midwestern bubble and supporting local immigrant entrepreneurs seems a good way to start.

  32. 32.

    satby

    @schrodingers_cat: I will! We’re going to be adopting them out when they’re old enough.

    There’s an empty maternity cage waiting for her. One cat that South Bend animal control called us about to get her and her newborns out of the shelter lost her whole litter, so she’s going to be spayed and after she recovers is going for adoption. But we have a momma and three more newborns in residence.

    Got the call, so mom-to-be and I are heading out! I’ll take pictures.

  34. 34.

    Schlemazel

    @Lapassionara:
    Yeah, the first shots were fired by Cadbury who decided they wanted to sell the sickeningly sweet creme eggs year around so they no longer are called “Easter” eggs

  35. 35.

    Schlemazel

    @Sab:
    We have had two Nepali restaurants in the Twin CIties forever & they are both enjoyable although there is a relatively new one (only like 10 years) that we really like. If you are familiar with Indian food you will not be confused by the menu

  36. 36.

    Schlemazel

    @satby:
    GOOD NEWS! Her babies will be born in a safe environment & stand a much better chance of a happy, healthy life. Good luck on getting #2.

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    I really WANT that facehugger snorkel!

    I am sure there are a couple of things in that set that would sell pretty well although the screaming alarm clock probably isn’t one of them.

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    On this Easter Sunday may I just reiterate – high-waisted jeans are of the Devil and should be driven out of society at all costs!

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I usually forget not to believe anything on the internet today, but this year I remembered!

    Just as with The Onion, and Andy Borowitz, and so on, the actual news of the day has gone far, far beyond satire and jest. They’ve managed to kill off actual foolishness and even the kinds of elaborate pranks of yesteryear. I don’t even have to remind myself these days to question the source or plausibility; the various platforms are ham-handed in their signaling and have all the delicacy and subtlety of a Peterbilt 379 in their delivery.

    NPR’s Morning Edition today tried to make us believe that the much-beloved “Puzzler” feature was being cancelled as of today, and I just thought “That is so fucking lame.” It was really kind of embarrassing.

  51. 51.

    Frankensteinbeck

    These do not sound like Trump tweets. They sound like a faithful aide who believes in the cause doing his best to deliver the tweets lawyers told him are acceptable today.

    Or has he had a public freak-out about Stormy Daniels yet?

  52. 52.

    Aleta

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
    From your link

    Reagan was Montt’s most prominent admirer. After meeting him in 1982, Reagan said the general was “getting a bum rap on human rights.” “I know that Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment,” he said. “I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts.”

    In Montt’s first five months in power, according to Amnesty International, soldiers killed more than 10,000 peasants. Thousands more disappeared. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes, many seeking refuge across the border in Mexico. Nearly all victims were indigenous people of Mayan extraction. Montt liked to say that a true Christian carried the Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other.

  57. 57.

    Pete Downunder

    April Fool : A March fool with another month added to his folly. Ambrose Bierce

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    Yea for satby. And I hope the momcat decides to become someone’s pet again.

    OT, kind of, I am fascinated (and horrified) by that story about the 2 moms and the 6 kids; car went off a cliff in Mendocino.

    I am wondering where the 3 other kids are (pulled out to sea, or maybe dropped off with friends before the crash?) I am wondering if anyone will ever know what really happened, and how the police, etc. are reconstructing their path, from Washington state to CA.

    And I am concerned about the combination of homeschooling and evading child protective services.

  62. 62.

    StringOnAStick

    I’ve been laid low by a cold but that means all day playing and napping with our two 6mo kittens, now headed into their early adolescence. Two weeks ago one was dropping her favorite mouse toy in the water dishes almost every day, so we don’t let her take it to bed with her so she doesn’t mess up their overnight water supply. Now we hide it in various places so she has the fun of finding it before giving it another dunking. Cat logic….

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Efrain Ríos Montt is dead.

    Certainly the epitome of the South American dictator.

    But damn, a complex character. From the obituary.

    “Consider the thousands of unarmed men, women and children killed by the army while he sermonized about morality, and he is a monster,” wrote David Stoll, a professor of anthropology at Middlebury College in Vermont. “Consider the hopes invested in him by many Guatemalans, including poverty-stricken Catholic peasants, and he becomes a hero of mythic proportions.”

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    What’s also nice is that because it’s the first day of the month it’s also Rabbit Day!

    (I am within spittin’ distance of my 76th birthday, and have greeted just about every First of the Month for the past 60+ year with the incantation “Rabbit rabbit rabbit.” I think I’ve missed maybe three times in all those years.)

  70. 70.

    mai naem mobile

    Remembering when Michelle Obama was not supposed to wear sleeveless outfits because it was not tasteful as a FLOTUS. I know, I know it’s not anywhere the worst hypocrisy of the RW and MSM but argh.

  75. 75.

    Corner Stone

    @mai naem mobile: I personally want nothing to do with her, but IMO Melania has been looking smoking hot lately. Either audition tapes for a new catch once she sheds Trump, or just as punishment for what he will never touch again. Who’s to say?

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Aleta:

    I am Year of the Horse, as it happens (1942). But beginning every month with “horse horse horse” seems like begging the universe for a perpetual scratchy throat. Or perhaps a little colt

  81. 81.

    J R in WV

    OK, the best April Fool story I ever heard was NPR reporting from Wisconsin, where Fon’du Laq was about to run out of cheesy fondue!!! There was on the spot reporting from every Fondue lake in the Cheese State, and it was a looming tradegy !~!!! Think olf running out of lakes of melted cheese!! The horror!

    I was pretty sure from the very beginning that it was BS, but it took a while for me to realize it was official BS on April 1st. I’m not good at knowing what date it is unless I’m looking at my working computer screen, with date in the upper right corner.

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Aleta:

    Did your mother or grandmother, etc say rabbit rabbit rabbit on the 1st?

    No. Not any part of our family tradition, and I’m not even sure I ever mentioned it to other family members. I learned it from a friend in high school when I was either a freshman or sophomore, so 14-15 years old. Have no idea why I’ve kept it up all this time; at this point it’s more reflex than superstition.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Do you preface the incantation with “Lepus pray?”

    Not really. I’ve come within a hare’s-breadth once or twice.

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Corner Stone: any of the gossip sites keeping an eye on that Tiffany’s security guard? The jewelry store, not the daughter.

    It would be hilarious is that guy’s name started trending. Of course, it might also start Armageddon.

  91. 91.

    Mike J

    @Schlemazel:

    Yeah, the first shots were fired by Cadbury who decided they wanted to sell the sickeningly sweet creme eggs year around so they no longer are called “Easter” eggs

    Please don’t try April fooling us, we’re not the nitwits the Republicans are.

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Revolta:

    I had already left Chicago (1962) but my sense is that the mid-60s were kind of the heyday for Rabbit x3!

    I have a FB (and before) friend of at least 20 years whose first post of each month is a concise “rabbit rabbit rabbit.” She’s an ordained Methodist minister. A few years ago she forgot; I reminded her and she was horrified at her forgetfulness.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SiubhanDuinne: A while back there was an article going around about the tradition of joke articles appearing in April issues (and, sometimes, in the UK, Christmas issues) of some scientific journals. The article was arguing that these practical jokes are dangerous and should be stopped–because the articles often get cited seriously without regard for the publication date, and from then on the information is effectively scrubbed of any clue that it’s a seasonal joke unless someone actually follows the chain of references. There have been many cases of these jokes effectively getting laundered as fact.

    It does sound as if the ones in the Christmas BMJ mentioned there actually have to pass peer review as legit articles–they can’t just be made up, at least in principle. But other journals don’t play that way.

  94. 94.

    Citizen Alan

    @Brachiator:

    So? Had the Allies not made stamping it out an early priority, Hitler would probably have that sort of adoration from the average German instead of the fringe nutcase. Easily one of the most embarrassing things about being an American is realizing that historically we have never cared about democracy at all for any other Nation except for when the risk of dictatorship threatened us financially.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @JPL: Photo of Donnie and his family at their table at Xanadu.

    WTF? Stanchions and red velvet ropes around the table? Really? Who does that?!?

    “Yes, you paid me $200,000 for the privilege of being in the same room with me, but don’t even think about crossing the ropes…”

    Why not have their dinner in a private dining room?!?!

    (sigh)

    Even better, why not have their dinner in the White House or Camp David?

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Don’t read the captions on the other pictures.”)

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The richest Americans have gotten a $33,000 tax break because of the Republican tax cut bill. How’s that working out for the precious White Working Class of which the media is so enamored?

    A lot of people will be happy with a small tax cut. And they will falsely presume that the tax cuts the wealthy get are proportionately equal.

    But the fact is that this GOP tax bill was rigged to make as much of the tax code as possible favorable to the rich by reducing, limiting or eliminating breaks for the poor and middle class and maximizing breaks for the wealthy.

    Tax preparers are also seeing the degree to which some blue state clients are getting the shaft, especially in California and other states.

    And yet, the Republicans are happy with this and want to make the changes to individuals permanent.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: as I recall the king’s table at Versailles was arranged so that selected courtiers could watch Louis XIV eat. I wonder if Mike Pence will be assigned as Napkin Bearer to Barron

  101. 101.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Another Scott:

    WTF? Stanchions and red velvet ropes around the table? Really? Who does that?!?

    Trump.

    “Yes, you paid me $200,000 for the privilege of being in the same room with me, but don’t even think about crossing the ropes…”

    Gotta pay more 200 Grand to sit on the otherside of the ropes.

    Why not have their dinner in a private dining room?!?!

    Wouldn’t be as good a show that way, would it?

    Even better, why not have their dinner in the White House or Camp David?

    They’re dumps.

  103. 103.

    Lapassionara

    Well, so it is sleeting in the greater Saint Louis area. In fact, the sleet looks like tiny hailstones. So, that is a April Fool’s joke on us.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Lapassionara: We’re going to have lows in the low 50’s this week in the Greater Houston Metro Area. That is almost unheard of for the first week in April for the last decade or so.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    Why not have their dinner in a private dining room?!?!

    No effin’ way. How better to rub the noses of the common rich than sitting amongst them, but special and separate? Donny two-scoops at his zenith.

    ETA or what Bill said.

  106. 106.

    Dan B

    @Sab

    Nepalese food is similar to North Indian. What we’ve had has been less spicey/hot but that may be catering to white folks taste buds, something our local Sichuan rest’s don’t. Good food, usually very healthy but depends upon the oil for the fried breads.

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    @Citizen Alan:

    So? Had the Allies not made stamping it out an early priority, Hitler would probably have that sort of adoration from the average German instead of the fringe nutcase.

    Hmm. Hitler was very popular when he was winning. The devastation and retribution he brought on to Germany probably accounts for a great deal of the way he is viewed, along with deliberate efforts of later German governments to suppress his cult.

    Easily one of the most embarrassing things about being an American is realizing that historically we have never cared about democracy at all for any other Nation except for when the risk of dictatorship threatened us financially.

    Americans have often never much cared about democracy at home, except for white people.

    But I take your point. I would add that often it was not a matter of a real threat. The US opposed other governments, whether dictatorship or leftist democracy, that cut into corporate profits.

    And as always, here is where the words of General Smedley Butler absolutely nail it.

    I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    @Another Scott:

    Why not have their dinner in a private dining room?!?

    How would he be able to crowd source his next Cabinet pick if he isn’t talking to the average multi-millionaire in Palm Beach society?

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    Tried out a recipe for rye bread in the super duper bread machine which includes allspice.

    Interesting. Not in a bad way but there is a definite moment of disconnect between what the eye sees and the tongue tastes.

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The April Fool assholery I normally see around seems much more muted this year, probably because of the coincidence with Easter.

    The UK Express planted a plausible April Fool’s gag.

    James Bond 25 SHOCK: Daniel Craig QUITS – Tom Hardy cast as NEW 007

    This popped up in my news feed as a legitimate story since Hardy’s name regularly pops up in casting rumors.

    A link here.

    https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/939949/James-Bond-25-Daniel-Craig-retires-Tom-Hardy-007

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    We had our tax appointment on Friday. We got a refund this year, but we will have to pay next year because of the changes.

    Tax preparers I work with have been seeing this in a lot of returns for California residents.

    A lot of Trump supporters are happy to see California punished for being a blue state, but this obviously hurts a lot of Republicans living here as well.

  118. 118.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Brachiator:

    A lot of Trump supporters are happy to see California punished for being a blue state

    I’m sure that will work out well for them, since California is pretty much driving the national economic growth.

  119. 119.

    Elizabelle

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Makes me angry.

    Maybe the disparate tax treatment will be yet another thing smart voters consider during the midterms.

    Am watching the Beverly Hills Dog Show on USA Network. Some good looking sleekster pups. Last group, and we’ll get best of show soon.

    Last: the Trumps behind a velvet rope at their Mar a Lago table (link above). It’s like a museum exhibit: This is what you get with DUMB.

  120. 120.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    That famous BBC story is apparently from 01 April 1957.

    I’m just going to leave this little exchange here (from Miss Pym Disposes, by Josephine Tey, published 1946. I repeat, nineteen
    forty-fucking six. That would
    be eleven years prior to the BBC’s amusing romp):

    “They are a nice lot,” agreed Doreen Wragg happily, not yet far removed from her own student days and regarding her pupils with camaraderie.

    “They are as the beasts that perish,” said Miss Lux incisively. “They think that Botticelli is a variety of spaghetti.” She inspected with deep gloom the coffee that Miss Wragg handed to her. “If it comes to that, they don’t know what spaghetti is. It’s not long since Dakers stood up in the middle of a Dietetic lecture and accused me of destroying her illusions.”

    “It surprises me to know that anything about Miss Dakers is destructible,” observed Madame Lefevre, in her brown velvet drawl.

    “What illusion had you destroyed?” the young doctor asked from the window-seat.

    “I had just informed them that spaghetti and its relations were made from a paste of flour. That shattered forever, apparently, Dakers’ picture of Italy.”

    “How had she pictured it?”

    “Fields of waving macaroni, so she said.”

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    Spoiler free Ready Player One Review

    Since I am not even remotely religious, I went to my church over the weekend. I went to the movies to see Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.” A fun movie about a dystopian US, circa 2045, it focuses on a group of young people who get caught up in a VR video game created by a Jobs like genius who had a deep fetish for 80s American pop culture.

    A lot of the video game action is exciting, and I confess that I got sucked into anticipating all the 80s pop culture references. But the strange thing was that even though the production and direction is probably better than most other filmmakers, it lacks the wonder and sheer inventiveness of Spielberg’s own best work. The young leads are bland, and the part of the story set in the real world is perfunctory and not nearly as satisfying as it should be. However, a major sequence which is also a nod to Stanley Kubrick, is outstanding.

    Spielberg clearly loves working with Mark Rylance, who has a key role here, but is, for me, slightly miscast.

    But like I say, I got caught up in much of the movie, even though it’s long, 2 hours and 20 minutes. I’m curious to see whether teens not steeped in 80s pop culture will enjoy it.

  123. 123.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    And yet, the Republicans are happy with this and want to make the changes to individuals permanent.

    Nothing is permanent. It will be repealed.

  128. 128.

    Brachiator

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I’m sure that will work out well for them, since California is pretty much driving the national economic growth.

    But remember that these Trump supporter dopes believe that the GOP is going to make the Rust Belt shine again with manufacturing and coal jobs.

    But the only thing that will happen is that the deficit will skyrocket and the Republicans will insist that the only solution is to cut Social Security.

    What a racket.

  130. 130.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I don’t know. I think there should be something in the article itself that makes it explicitly clear that it’s a joke article. I don’t think that’s too unreasonable.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    I fell for NPR’s puzzle joke. Frankly, with all the “youngening” of the staff, it made perfect sense.

    I must be a great deal more cynical and suspicious than I imagined. To me it was painfully obvious. No offense intended.

  132. 132.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Quit a lot of the economic growth here is from small and medium sized businesses and their upper middle class owners. Sure you have Silicone Valley and Hollywood, but there’s a lot of support businesses there as well. Also many of the wealthy here aren’t IGMFY types.

  134. 134.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: I fell for it, in part because of the longevity of the segment, in part because nothing is obvious to me before 9 a.m., especially on Sunday.

    @Another Scott: @JPL: Photo of Donnie and his family at their table at Xanadu.

    and props for Xanadu

  135. 135.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Brachiator:

    But the only thing that will happen is that the deficit will skyrocket and the Republicans will insist that the only solution is to cut Social Security.

    And tax cuts, remember they cure acne.

  137. 137.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Lapassionara:

    Miss Pym is right near the top of my all-time favorites booklist. Over many years I’ve read it dozens of times. Read the whole thing on air years ago when I worked for an NPR affiliate in Michigan. It’s a great book.

  138. 138.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA: My comment was in jest. They hate California because California is both good and successful. I hope you have zero GOP congresscritters next year.

  140. 140.

    Brachiator

    @Corner Stone:

    Have not read the article but the $33K figure sounds ridiculously low for the “richest” Americans

    Their dealing with averages, which can distort how well some of the richest will make out, and how much a lot of middle class will be screwed.

  141. 141.

    Feathers

    When I looked something up on Google Maps today, Waldo from Where’s Waldo peeked out from the side of the screen. Went downtown to see Annihilation, which I’ve been meaning to see, but it was sold out. Grabbed coffee at a nearby cafe. Downtown Boston was very Asian and Muslim today.

    As always on April 1, I checked the ThinkGeek site. I think the Klingon Alphabet fridge magnets should become real.

  142. 142.

    Baud

    @Feathers:

    Went downtown to see Annihilation, which I’ve been meaning to see, but it was sold out. 

    It actually wasn’t. April Fool’s!

  146. 146.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    How many people watch the local news anyway? The little I’ve seen of mine is that it usually sucks. They mostly report on deadly car accidents, murders, fires, and whatnot. Definitely not hard hitting, in-depth journalism. National news is always from the parent.

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Sinclair needs to be destroyed.

    Sinclair is just getting started. And they want to be bigger than Fox News. From a recent story.

    Earlier this year, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of local news stations in the country with over 200 owned or operated, would be requiring local news anchors to read a scripted promo that reflects a mistrust of the media. Some in the news industry expressed outrage at the time, but the anger has ignited Twitter in recent days after Deadspin created a compilation video showing dozens of newscasters reading the same promo.

    They are willingly following Trump’s lead.

    [Jimmy] Kimmel isn’t the only one to have expressed alarm over to the broadcasting agency’s news practices. John Oliver did a segment on Sinclair back in July 2017, which emphasized the company’s injection of conservative political views into their news reporting, including the daily must-run segment “Terrorism Alert Desk” and “Bottom Line with Boris,” which is required to air nine times per week and features former Trump surrogate Boris Epshteyn. According to Oliver’s reporting, circulating must-run material across all stations is not common practice by broadcast groups.

    Link to current story

    http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sinclair-promos-backlash-1202741019/

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    This ain’t no April Fool’s joke. From the BBC

    China has imposed tariffs of up to 25% on 128 US imports, including pork and wine, after US President Donald Trump raised duties on foreign steel and aluminium imports earlier in March.

    The tariffs affecting some $3bn (£2.1bn) of imports kick in on Monday.

    Beijing said the move was to “safeguard China’s interests and balance” losses caused by new US tariffs.

    The trade wars begun, they have.

    China had previously said it did not want a trade war but would not sit by if its economy was hurt .

    Mr Trump, however, has insisted that “trade wars are good”, and that it should be “easy” for the US to win one.

    Let’s see if Trump chokes on these words.

  152. 152.

    lamh36

    Alright…let’s get into this Jesus Christ Superstar with John Legend…as Jesus Christ…So what’s the official hashtag? #JesusChristSuperstarLive

  153. 153.

    debbie

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Believe me, I’m no fan of Sinclair, but I think the real purpose is to grab market share from Fox. Let them, and then let Fox slug back. I’m hoping they destroy each other.

  154. 154.

    Brachiator

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    They must be freaking out about the mid-terms and 2020. The window is closing for them.

    Yep. Sinclair is the official conservative propaganda channel for television and many newspapers. Sinclair and Clear Channel also control a lot of radio stations, and the greater Los Angeles area, for example, is maybe the largest English language radio drive time market. And this is more important for news than cable or national news.

    Some news stations are fighting back. More will need to do so.

  155. 155.

    Skepticat

    @satby: Good on you, and congratulations! A friend and I do a trap-neuter-release-pamper program here on our tiny Bahamian island, and last month we got our 72nd cat fixed. We feed them every day, and most of them are very socialized. I’ve adopted three, and none of that trio are enthused about being outside–been there, done that. Best wishes.

  156. 156.

    Mary G

    @Brachiator: They even dictated what colors the anchors were allowed to wear while reading the propaganda – no blue, red, or purple. Only gold, grey, black, brown. I think the rich people in America are trying to take over the media.

  157. 157.

    JMG

    Radio and local TV are super declining mediums. Back in the ’80s, a company like Sinclair would never have dared do stuff like this, because they’d lose much of their audience and advertisers would go insane. Now, nobody but old people, especially old white people (I am one) listen to terrestrial radio or watch local TV. Advertisers don’t care about them, except maybe car dealers and furniture stores. Sinclair would’ve been an existential threat to America 30 years ago. Too late for them now. Of course the next Democratic administration should pull all their station licenses. There are grounds.

  158. 158.

    opiejeanne

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): My best friend was born in Guatemala and told me about a distant cousin who was married to a man that I’m convinced was Rios Mott, after reading his Wikipedia page. He is exactly what she described, Evangelical, gained power as the result of a coup, and she was horrified that he was at that time running for President again. It has to be him.
    She didn’t go into details about what he was doing to the indigenous population, the genocide, but she said he was murderous, a monster.

  160. 160.

    Brachiator

    @JMG:

    Radio and local TV are super declining mediums.

    As I noted previously, radio is still huge in morning and afternoon drive time markets, and not just with older demographics. And conservative owners love drive time.

    Also, Sinclair has control over a patent that brings over-the-air tv broadcast to the next generation of TV’s, and possibly to smartphones and tablets.

    If ATSC 3.0 becomes the de facto standard for TV broadcasting in the coming decade, Sinclair’s One Media could make a small fortune from patent royalties from manufacturers of 3.0 receivers and transmission gear.

    Linky

    http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/109467/sinclair-stands-to-profit-from-30-royalties

  161. 161.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Brachiator: I’m surprised the Koch Brothers and other billionaires are okay with Trump’s stupid, ill-conceived tariffs.

  163. 163.

    Quinerly

    @lamh36: I’m struggling with it. Might be my attention span tonight. Trying to at least make it to Alice Cooper’s appearance.

  164. 164.

    lamh36

    @Quinerly: I’ve never seen it before…so I have nothing to compare it to. I’m actually surprised I’ve stuck with it so long…but that’s likely cause I’m loving John Legend and the other singers so far…they did great on that part.

    oh..Sara Bareilles just sang “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” and that was FABULOUS!!!!

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36: Surprised how much I remember of these songs.

    My parents took us to see it at Ford’s Theatre, when it was newish.

    Don’t know the performers, other than John Legend, but it’s a good staging. Wish it was commercial free. Fuckin’ NBC.

    Jesus wants Big Pharma ads.

  167. 167.

    zhena gogolia

    @lamh36:

    We got home in time for “Blood Money” and it was fabulous. But they’re putting commercials between every number, I guess.

  168. 168.

    Elizabelle

    Re JCS (Jesus Christ Superstar, not John Cole Sated): the songs hold up well.

  170. 170.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Elizabelle: It’s a bit unusual in that usually in “JCS” Judas is an edgier, more emotionally intense part than Jesus, and the cast here really seems to be playing it the other way around.

  171. 171.

    Brachiator

    The Eagle has landed

    Tiangong-1 crash: China says space station came down in Pacific Ocean
    China’s first space station had been out of control since 2016, sealing its fate to eventually come tumbling down through Earth’s atmosphere

    ETA. JCS sounds interesting. I’m on the West Coast, so may watch it. I’ll also record it for later, just in case I get tired.

  172. 172.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Central Planning:

    Seems to be subject to all kinds of regional/ethnic variations. One rabbit, or two, or three; some people specify “White Rabbit(s) ” and others just mutter “Rabbit Day” and go back to sleep. You have to say it out loud, though. If you just think it in your head, it doesn’t count ?

  174. 174.

    Jager

    @Barbara: and the China tariffs, my BIL is in the commodities business and he had helped a group of Nebraska corn growers put together a co-op to sell corn to a Mexican firm. The Mexican firm cancelled a 10 million dollar contract with the small co-op. He says next up for an ass whipping are the soy bean growers.

  175. 175.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Quinerly: Well, we had to leave off watching for various reasons, but it’s on the TiVo so we have that to look forward to.

  177. 177.

    Sab

    @debbie: I never listen to NPR on April 1. I fell for one of their gags about 15 years ago and I have been pissed off ever since. I also remeber being pissed off during pledge week.

  178. 178.

    Scamp Dog

    @eclare: Haven’t read the article, but my best guess is that the car’s speedometer maxes out at 90 mph (some have an actual peg that keeps the needle from going too far). Often (usually?) in a wreck, the broken glass/other damage keeps the speedometer needle stuck where it was at the moment of the crash.

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