I’m not sure why the media is so invested in propping up the female Trumps as a “moderating influence” on the demagogue in the White House:
CBS News has learned President Trump took a lot of heat from his family over the racist chants at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday. He heard from first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Vice President Mike Pence.
I suppose it’s remotely possible that Pence, a professional politician, winked and said “ix-nay on the acism-ray” because he’s afraid a full-blown “send them back to Africa” campaign will hurt the reelection effort. Pence’s lips are so firmly affixed to Trump’s ass that it’s difficult to imagine such a confrontation, but okay, maybe.
But we’re seriously supposed to believe FLOTUS Birther McBirtherface and Princess Complicity give a shit what the unwashed MAGA hordes in North Carolina chanted? They didn’t say jack-shit about the racist tweet that inspired the chant, but now they’re concerned? Give me a fucking break.
The press really needs to stop falling for this bullshit PR spin. It makes them look like suckers every time.
rikyrah
Absolute and complete bullshyt.
Baud
Can you be a moderating influence if you have no influence?
MattF
It’s… possible that some of the White House Girls have noticed that all of the people Daddy is demonizing are female. And that, for reasons we need not discuss, makes them feel sad.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
It’s almost like people in the press like being made to look like suckers. Why else wouldn’t they be wising up here? Or is there something I’m missing?
Nicole
The press isn’t falling for it. It’s enabling it. The press is desperate to normalize Trump, rather than recognize what the majority of America (and the vast majority of the rest of the world) do: that there is something deeply wrong with him, even beyond the racism (his response “Where are they now?” to the woman who told him her family had been killed being the most recent example). I think the press is desperate to do this because they had such a hand in getting him to where he is now. They’re complicit.
Because yeah, his racist wife couldn’t care less about the chants; she, if she in fact said anything at all (which I doubt), would only have been concerned about the optics.
waspuppet
More to the point, I wish they’d stop pretending it matters.
Like it’s going to stop Trump from saying the next racist thing. Or like at the next rally the chant isn’t gonna start again and Trump won’t stand there like a simian for a few seconds and then go “Now now, we’re not supposed to do that” in that way.
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH AH
rikyrah
@Nicole:
Been trying to normalize him from the get go.
You are correct. They have been DESPERATE ….and always wind up looking like idiots.
wormtown
I don’t get it. Is this something put out by Ivanka and Melania? Why?
Nicole
ALSO- while we’re at it, can we also discuss how CBS’s story is basically, “Trump may have said something inappropriate, but it’s okay because his wife and daughter henpecked him about it.”
Mary G
Melania’s already given her statement: “I really don’t care, do u?” And we know from Fred Trump on down that they believe themselves to be genetically superior to the rest of us, so Ivanka’s just doing what her PR people tell her so she can pursue her own presidency in 2024.
PaulWartenberg
Dear Beltway Media:
there are no heroes inside trump’s White House, only con artists.
CAN YOU PLEASE RECOGNIZE THAT FACT.
Citizen_X
I don’t care. Do you?
Spanky
Most likely a typically bad job of phrasing, but I do like Pence being cast as one of the Trump women.
Mnemosyne
I can believe that those three have just enough political sense to worry that racist chants might hurt his 2020 campaign.
But some kind of moral problem with racist chants? Get the fuck outta here with that lame bullshit.
Mandalay
germy
“The Mythical Moderating Influence” sounds like the name of a 1960s pop/bubblegum/faux-psychedelic song. Or maybe the band that recorded it.
We forget that Ivanka and Melania have their own press reps, who instead of standing in front of a microphone to answer questions, instead quietly phone their contacts in the MSM to plant stories like this.
karensky
Yass
Scotian
Just to update…been in hospital all week blood clots in both legs, and had a bad reaction to the chemo. I am clearly sliding overall so I don’t know how much longer I will be able to manage even updates. Will try my best, and again, thank you all for your support during this end phase of my life.
germy
@Scotian: Thank you for being here with us.
the Conster
I’ll keep saying this until I’m blue in the face – is this the same media the impeachment hearings now! screamers are putting their faith in to outrage and mobilize the mythical voters who have somehow avoided all news of Trump’s crimes? The media who gave us Trump, and whose executives are all Trump’s golf buddies? Like someone on twitter said, the media has *discovered* Trump is a racist like Columbus *discovered* America.
SFAW
Ma nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot?
rikyrah
@Scotian:
Sending you positive thoughts. {{{HUGS}}}}
SFAW
@Scotian:
Thinking of you, daily.
Nicole
@Scotian: Thank you for taking the time to check in and let us know where you are. Sending virtual hugs and thinking of you.
laura
@Scotian: {{{{{{SCOTIAN}}}}}}
Holding you in the light and wishing you Grace and love everlasting.
Elizabelle
@Scotian: Good morning, Scotian. I hope today is a better one for you. All my best to you and Mrs. Scotian. Glad to have you here.
Sloane Peterson's knee therapist
How these racist rallies will affect trumpettes businesses? is the real question. Ivanka’s new venture, for example, Valley Forge Foot & Beachwear, might not make it through the winter.
germy
Mnemosyne
@Scotian:
Oh no! We are all pulling for you and hoping for the best. Healing thoughts are being sent your way.
germy
But we know that.
rikyrah
Paragon of corruption at Trump Interior draws eye of Congress
Rachel Maddow looks at the details known so far in how Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary David Bernhardt became involved in a land deal by a wealthy Republican Trump donor, and notes that it’s the kind of sketchy behavior that Trump hopes to distract from by tearing national unity asunder with racist political stunts.
cope
Ooooo, “…a lot of heat…”, eh?
Wow, I’ll bet that showed him and he will never allow it to happen again. Where would this country be without the unsung efforts of those fine Trump family women?
rikyrah
Trump campaign hush money scam appears to have worked
Rachel Maddow reports on the revelations of unsealed documents in the Michael Cohen case showing that the plan to insulate Donald Trump from payments made to silence women claiming to have had affairs with him so they wouldn’t hurt his election chances appears to have worked out for everyone involved except Michael Cohen even though he was not the beneficiary of the crime.
The Dangerman
I can believe Ivanka could have said something; if she is going to replace Daddy in 2024, Daddy has to win in 2020.
Pence or Melania? Not.
chris
@Scotian: Thank you for the update. We hold you in the light down here to the west’ard.
Aziz, light!
@SFAW: On this night we eat only unleavened media bullshit.
Betty Cracker
@Scotian: Peace and strength to you, friend.
rikyrah
Klobuchar fights Trump’s hateful distraction with focus on policy
Senator Amy Klobuchar, 2020 Democratic candidate for president, talks with Rachel Maddow about the danger of Donald Trump’s use of hate and division to rally his base and distract from the shortcomings of his policies and governing.
Klobuchar lays out her ‘first 100 days’ plan: ‘no mean tweets’
Senator Amy Klobuchar, 2020 Democratic candidate for president, talks with Rachel Maddow about her agenda for the first 100 days of her presidency should she win in 2020, and explains why the next president will face urgent pressure to get things done quickly.
geg6
Because their new anchor, Nora O’Donnell, is a suck up and wannabe? Gawd, I despise that woman.
Meanwhile, Lara Trump was leading the chant. She’s supposedly their marketing expert. Jesus.
geg6
@Scotian:
I’m so sorry. I’ve been thinking of you every day.
Miss Bianca
@Scotian: Thank you for letting us know, tho’ I am sorry to hear this news. Virtual hugs to you.
Mandalay
@germy:
Nobody could have predicted that one of the authors of the piece making Ivanka Trump look good would be Maggie Fucking Haberman.
My guess on the uncited source for the Ivanka puffery is Ivanka Trump. The next most likely source is Haberman herself, knowing that simply fabricating the claim would would meet with tacit approval from the Trumps, and ensure ongoing access.
Here is the actual policy of the NYT on using anonymous sources:
Some anonymous White House insider telling the NYT a flattering and implausible story about Ivanka Trump is neither credible nor newsworthy.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Rangappa has it exactly right — that’s the Javanka pattern when Trump says or does something so awful that it stands out in the sea of horror that is the daily background in administration: She doesn’t appear in settings where she might be questioned, and the PR shop dangles insider info to gullible outlets.
I suspect my view of the media horde is more charitable than is typical here. I think most of the non-Fox Beltway press is dumb and lazy rather than in on a conspiracy to prop the monster up. IMO, most of them enable Trump as a byproduct of their quest for eyeballs and clicks rather than vice versa.
SFAW
@Aziz, light!:
Right, but how is that any different from any other night?
ETA: By the way: nicely done.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
I might agree with you on this but with one exception: the execrable Maggie Haberman, who seems to be one of the hacks responsible for this bullshit story.
germy
Her phrasing “took heat” is probably a cut and paste job from what Ivanka’s press representative emailed her.
Mary G
@Scotian: Hope your transition is an easy one.
chris
OT: Michelle Obama is the most admired woman in the world. some things are still right in this FUBAR world.
JPL
Trump is tweeting that his crowd was bigger than Omar’s. Ivanka your daddy is calling you
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: The MSM is completely onboard the Trump Train. Hence the nonsense stories like these which try to place Trump’s closest sycophants in the best light. They now support and have always supported his racism, xenophobia and sexism.
The Moar You Know
Bullshit. 100% bullshit. CBS should close up shop forever in shame for reporting this load of codswallop as news.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Even now, not even the PR team thinks of poor Tiffany
Steeplejack
@Scotian:
Thank you for your grace and sharing your journey with us. ?
Please arrange for someone to inform us at the end.
Haroldo
@Scotian:
Thank you for this. You are an inspiration. I wish you contentment.
JPL
@Scotian: hugs to you and your family. Thank you for sharing this with us.
kindness
Is it because our MSM is completely lazy or is it because they are completely programmed to do the same thing over and over? I mean the ignoring the Trump oddities, eccentrisms, breaking things in the China Shop of our government. I think some of them (The Chuck Todd ones) want to believe everything is still as it was (it NEVER was like they think though) and they are invested in presenting themselves as above it, so they don’t address the overt racism, the breaking of norms and laws directly but tangentally. And the thing is in our modern culture (sad I know) if you don’t hit people over the head with it they ignore or deny it. Just look at all the comments from Trumpies in places they group (USA Today, ugh). Knowingly repeating lies or unknowingly being the stupidest human beings on the planet. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr…..There is a reason none of us can bring on the meteor strikes because we’d all be doing exactly that. My soul isn’t dirty…..yet.
Anyway, our 5th Column isn’t going to save us any longer. It’s all up to us. Donate. Show a kind face to the world. Be better than they are but fight back harder than they do.
lurker dean
@Scotian: i’m so sorry, i hope you are not feeling any pain. sending you good energy and hugs.
the Conster
@Scotian:
It’s so brave of you to share this with us, and many blessings to you and your family at this time. We’re all on the same path, and only hope to manage it as gracefully as you.
Just One More Canuck
@Baud: they’re not moderating and they have no influence
JeanneT
Scotian, I’m so sorry to hear that the chemo effects are so bad. In my husband’s cancer progression, it was a relief to finally leave the chemo behind and use pain meds and oxygen supplementation to make the days as comfortable as possible. I hope you and your loved ones find moments of life and memory to treasure together, even at this time.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scotian: Good to see you, Scotian.
Mandalay
@Nicole:
They were certainly complicit, but your argument breaks down when you look at what the media figures most complicit in getting Trump elected (outside of Fox News) say and do now. For me the absolute worst offenders were Joe Scarborough, Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper. They all gave Trump free and easy access to spout his nonsense for months during his campaign, and now they all attack him on a daily basis.
They may be doing that out of a sense of guilt, but the notion that they are normalizing Trump simply isn’t true.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Fair point; Haberman really does seem to have a twisted codependency thing with the Trumps.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
They preferred the coded language, so that they could pretend that they didn’t understand the codes. They all resent the obviousness of the dog sirens of Dolt45. They want their cover back, so that they can pretend that it’s something other than what it is.
chris
Ayup.
Frankensteinbeck
I find it plausible that they noticed the word ‘racist’ is for the first time getting traction in the media, and they’d like him to back up to language that pundits desperate to pretend the Republican Party isn’t a white supremacist movement can wave away. Foreign diplomats have commented that Ivanka isn’t an absolute moron like her brothers, merely an arrogant and entitled shit.
@Mary G:
I can totally believe she thinks she has a shot, but not. A. Fucking. Chance. She has none of the traits that made the Republican base pick her father. She is not an incoherent, senile, ranting, openly cruel, dumb-as-dirt, openly white-supremacist white man. They wanted Archie Bunker as a giant ‘fuck you’ to everyone who said they’re not the pinnacle of creation and deserve the right to hurt anyone they feel like, whenever they feel like.
Barbara
@Scotian: It’s such a hard journey. Please take care of yourself. We are with you in spirit.
satby
@Scotian: sending love Scotian.
Another Scott
@Nicole:
Yes and no.
I recall the FTFNYT story immediately after Donnie held that press conference (roughly) asking that Russia try to find the “missing 30,000 e-mails” and that “I think the press will reward you for it”. The tone of the story was one of exasperated disbelief:
In gray, almost invisible type at the bottom of the page, it says the original Page A1 headline for the story was, “Trump Eggs on Moscow in Hack of Clinton Email”. Oh that Donnie. What a Scamp!! Grrr…
So, there are some in the press that work to get information out there, even at FTFNYT. One of the main problems is, though, that stories like these do not get anywhere near the follow-up attention when the subjects are Republicans as when they are Democrats. (Compare stories about Hillary’s e-mails with stories about Trump’s companies laundering money for Russian oligarchs at his properties around the world.) And that’s because DC is wired for Republicans, as Josh said.
It’s infuriating.
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It’s out right pandering to conceits of Trump’s female base; they can tell themselves “Trump isn’t that bad because he listens to his wife, like a good boy.” and the old “she is the brains in the family, Trump is just a silly boy” and “I am not voting from Trump, I am voting for Melania” and so on.
Brachiator
I’m not sure that the press is falling for anything. It’s more that they are complicit in trying to push the idea that Trump “really isn’t racist.”
CNN at first didn’t get the memo. They interviewed a group of mainly white women who said, “oh, we back Trump all the way.” So you had this awkward image of white women happy to want to be more racist than Trump.
Ivanka is a strange white goddess with multiple conflicting attributes. She is supposed to be an official advisor to the president and so involved in operations and decisions and, presumably Trump’s campaign. You would think in this guide she would be aware of and approve of his racism.
And yet in her other guise as Goddess Daddy’s Little Daughter, we are supposed to pray to her to intercede with the stern God of Thunderous Bullshit Who is Donald.
The press always roll out Melania and Ivanka as false avatars of kindness and mercy. It is a sick little sideshow in an already perverse carnival.
frosty
@Scotian: Wishing you peace and courage. Thanks for the update, you’re in my thoughts.
Cheryl Rofer
@Scotian: Hugs
jl
The fluff stories are nonsense. Trump preceded the vile chant with a series of vicious lies and smears against Ilhan Omar. For example, people can have problems with how she phrased some statements regarding her concern about the CW expectations for blind support for Likud wrt to membership on the foreign affairs committee. People can argue about whether her concern is justified. It is just a damned lie that she said ‘vicious’ anti-Semitic things. There are half a dozen similar lies and smears in what Trump said before the chants started.
OK, so some of his flunkies, some family members, said what happened was, essentially, bad politics. So Trump goes on national media and tells bald face obvious lies about what happened, plainly contradicted by the visual and audio public record of the events for the whole country to watch.
That anyone would give Trump an ounce of credit for his disgraceful performance, including his lies about what happened is ridiculous and dangerous.
Heywood J.
Stockholm Syndrome is a helluva revenue model.
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: I saw that segment last night on Rachel’s show, about the idiot planning multiple golf courses and how many houses? 28,000? In a tiny desert town of 5,000. Drain the San Pedro River to water those golf courses. Who needs a river anyway?
And who is going to buy all of those new houses? Where will they work?
Sloane Ranger
@Scotian: I hope I can display as much grace and dignity when I face my end. Sending you every good thought. Stay strong.
jl
Only good thing is that Trump is such a fool, in addition to his many other weaknesses and faults, the lie is hilariously obvious. Will make a good 30 second campaign spot in the future, if the Democrats run out of better material.
gbbalto
@Scotian: Hoping for better days for you!
Nicole
@Another Scott:
Ergo, they’re complicit. That once in awhile they run a story pointing out in VERY CAREFUL phrasing that the guy in the White House is breaking laws left right and center and handing authority over to a hostile country is the press equivalent of #notallwhitemen
Another Scott
@Scotian: I’m sorry. :-( Thanks for letting us know. Don’t sweat keeping us in the loop, spend that time with your close loved ones. We’ll be with you in spirit even if we don’t hear from you on the pages here.
Peace and comfort to you and your family.
Best wishes,
Scott.
rikyrah
@opiejeanne:
I don’t know. Seemed like a vanity project that was going to ruin the environment out there.
germy
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
There’s also that “off again, on again” book deal which may explain some of her enduring Trump love.
The Trump grift machine has loot for everyone.
https://wwd.com/business-news/media/maggie-haberman-no-longer-writing-book-on-trump-white-house-book-1203216475/
Another Scott
@Nicole: Touche’. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
JanieM
Sending a hope for light and peace your way, Scotian.
@chris: I don’t know where Chris’s “west’ard” is, but I’m in Maine, “west’ard” of Nova Scotia, and the word reminded me of this lovely song: The Hills of Isle au Haut.
Which in turn reminded me that if we’re lucky “we’ll all see you someday in Fiddler’s Green.”
opiejeanne
@Scotian: I’m sorry to hear this. I hope you have a better day today and all the days you have left. Thinking of you and discussing it with God.
Brachiator
@geg6:
Some GOP political strategists thought it would look better if women were seen bashing the Squad. Republcans could say, “we may be racist, but at least we’re not sexist!”
The GOP is also playing the “sacred white motherhood” card.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Scotian: Sending you light. Thank you for being here with us.
Brachiator
@Scotian: Peace and warm thoughts to you and your family
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: That was my reaction.
In 2010 we visited Ireland, and there was this one town that I wanted to visit because it’s named for my family. When we got there it was’t much of a town, a wide spot in the road in the countryside, but developers had built so many new houses there in anticipation of…. something? Masses of people moving from Dublin? That there were now more than two houses for every human in the area, and I mean every human. This glut of houses was part of the same disastrous financial bs that crashed our own housing markets. At the time you could buy a nice new house there for peanuts, but there were no jobs to draw people to move way out there.
Chyron HR
But who is this Santa Ivanka?
catclub
@rikyrah: I am still waiting for one of the press to tell him: “Nobody believes you when you are lying like this.”
I may wait a long time.
grubert
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
The press is very well paid to be suckers. It’s in their job description.
grubert
I feel like many of the good folk here don’t fully understand that the television and cable talking heads are, first and foremost, corporate employees.. and very well paid.
If you’ve spent enough time in corporate-land, and you are observant and enough a critical thinker to go beyond the positive-attitude surface explanations, you will notice that well-paid corporate employees first duty is to KEEP THEIR JOB.
And that means knowing what the owners really want, and giving it to them.
hitchhiker
The other day someone unearthed an old clip of trump on a daytime talk show playing the Donnie Is Such a Rascal version of himself. Because I’ve never been much of a daytime tv watcher, this was my first exposure to that special brand of nausea.
The clip was from 92 or 93, and some shit stood out. One is that the woman hosting the show asked him THEN if he was considering doing a Ross Perot thing and running for president, and he went into this winking, grinning thing about how he just loved beautiful women too much for that to ever work. Two is that the women in that audience — instead of shuddering in disgust at that performance — were all gooey with smiling questions about who he’d like to fuck next (they did use cleaner language). He mentioned Princess Diana as a top choice.
I had no idea at the time who he was, but damn that audience of women was familiar. I’d forgotten how normal it was back then to see women with so little self-respect that they’d find a performance like his amusing. Now you have to go to a fascist rally to see them, or read their comments on twitter or whatever.
The trump family believes there are still enough of them to make this political dynasty happen. They think Lara and Ivanka can be the face of hope for those particular white women. They can’t win with just the white dudes, so they have to make a space for white women to feel good about supporting them.
Trashing black people, immigrants and especially “unpatriotic” women of color is a way to create that nook. That’s going to be the plan. Every chance they get, they’re going to be shrieking about how un-American those women are, and it won’t matter how stupid the premise is, or how thin the justification, or any of that. This is about white ladies.
chris
@JanieM: About 200km/120miles from Halifax. This has been my favourite version of Isle au Haut by a Mainer for nearly 50 years.
MomSense and I talked about a meetup in Portland the next time I pass that way. Looks like September at this point but we’ll see.
Another Scott
ICYMI, Wonkette has clips of Rep. Elija Cummings grilling the DHS/CBP monster yesterday:
How indeed.
Grrr….
Cheers,
Scott.
Carol
They all probably did admonish him, but their concerns weren’t about the moral and ethic horror, but for what it might do for his reelection.
eemom
@the Conster:
You miss the point, blue in the face.
We “screamers” are not counting on the media to do shit. This screamer in particular is screaming at the fucking Speaker of the House to USE HER POWER to USE the media — very specifically, its cameras and microphones — to make the case for impeachment to the people herself, directly. IOW, to take charge of the fucking narrative and not LET Dump and the media hacks control it.
As befits a “Speaker”. As befits a fucking LEADER.
JanieM
@chris: A Portland meetup would be fun. I’ll keep an eye out.
Kay
The whole story is incorrect. Trump attacked refugees (plural- all of them) in Minnesota as part of the 2016 campaign:
Lindsey Graham said Trump isn’t a racist because it wasn’t directed at all Somalis. That is a lie. Not only IS it directed at all of them, he has been doing this since 2016.
They’re actually, right now, launching another birther-type campaign against her. They’re spreading a rumor she was married to her brother. How the fuck can I know that and Ivanka, Melania and Pence not know it? Because it’s bullshit that they don’t know it.
These people are pathological liars. Everything they say is a lie. Donald is a liar, Melania, Ivanka, Pence. This whole administration is built on lies.
They can’t keep them straight. They don’t even remember the 2016 lies, so we get this insane rewriting of history every 3 months. It is crazymaking to me that we’re continually ordered to accept what they say when they all lie to us constantly.
No. The assumption should be that every fucking word of any of their mouths is a lie, because they cannot be trusted.
Brachiator
@grubert:
Publishers hire editors and reporters. This is no grand revelation. And there were hack reporters even when they were paid on the cheap.
Kay
Hope Hicks? Liar. Head of Border Patrol? Told a blatant lie publicly 2 weeks ago. Sarah Sanders? Liar.
At least 20 of the low quality hires lied to a court about the census question! That’s a conservative estimate! God know how many low quality hires it takes to change a lightbulb, let alone submit a pack of lies to a court.
We know this. It has happened over and over and over. NONE of them are credible.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: And headline writers. I think that often the problem is the headlines don’t correspond to the story. And too many people only read the headlines (and stories on the radio news are often only a sentence or two, so the headlines shape the words used).
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
chris
@JanieM: Duck Fat fries!!!
Aleta
The story they put out after the Access tape — that Karen Pence* thought Trump was disgusting and vile, and that Tr “called Karen to personally apologize” — and the stories that get refreshed in the msm every once in awhile about the two Pences ** —
* whose character is curated on wiki with labels “American educator, teacher, and painter”
** their balanced marriage; that one time they saw a hawk, which she interpreted to mean he should enter politics because “wings;” how she’s a prayer warrior and his servitude to T is a biblical thing like jesus
— to me all those stories are planted. Here’s a politician who changed his and her religion for political advantage, who has heavy Koch support and who by nature and behavior is no christian.
Good to know that after the tape came out, Pence was ready to take over with C. Rice by his side … wait … I thought he couldn’t meet alone with a woman? But also fine with staying on as servant to the good lord and his prince Trump and the *his* princess.
Anyway, this Epstein story wrt Trump is related to Pence’s survival too.
chris
dww44
@Scotian: The very best to you, Scotian. I salute your courage and clarity.
noncarborundum
Dear media: Ivanka is Lucy van Pelt in this scenario, and her “moderating influence” on her father is the football. I leave it to you to figure out who has been playing Charlie Brown, over and over and over.
Aleta
@Another Scott: Who gets hired as headline writers — what strings get pulled to help a young friend of the Repub party get a job after graduating from a Repub-connected fraternity
Tenar Arha
@Scotian: I’m with everyone here, thanks again for the updates, and I’m thinking of you.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
Yep.
Screaming Headlines were used to sell newspapers.
Now headlines have to be click bait.
Ruckus
Betty
At least they are being true to themselves.
@rikyrah:
It is after all who most of them are.
A serious question.
What else are most of them capable of producing besides bullshit?
debbie
Doubtless Melania was bullied into objecting. //
The Lodger
@Scotian: Wishing you peace and strength in these days.
MisterForkbeard
@chris: It’s sourced off a badly written Intercept article that really, REALLY wants the Justice Democrats to be heroes. I’d be highly skeptical, but the claims are essentially:
A PAC that is connected to a bipartisan caucus gave $3,000 worth of in-kind contributions to a Republican candidate, and then there’s a lot of unsourced supposition that this PAC is secretly connecting the Republican to a bunch of ‘elite fundraisers’.
Unless there’s more to it, this is just ass-covering for Justice Dems at the expense of the wider party. Again.
Ruckus
@Scotian:
We are all hoping for the best.
SiubhanDuinne
@Scotian:
Thank you for being part of this community. Along with everyone else, I’m holding you in light and love.
Aleta
@Scotian: That reaction, blood clots after chemo, also happened to my friend.
Just a thought: If it would help, would you consider letting us provide a registered massage therapist? One whose skills are recommended by your palliative care group. I think it would be fairly easy for us to arrange payment directly with her/him, so you would not be bothered with those details. And we would not need your name or location — the masseuse would keep that private and could be scheduled on your end by your assistants or wife.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chyron HR: Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow?
What kind of goddess has lived among us?
How will we ever get by without her?
jl
And just as corporate hacks in the media kiss the ring of power, Trump flips back this morning and restarts the hate, lies and smears that got the chant going in the first place. Will that be reported out, and the obvious implications explained, or not? Or will they wait until some Trumpster flunkies talk that vicious loon down out his tantrum, and Trump tells some more obvious and absurd lies to try (but fail miserably) to CYA. Then they’ll report that is all kinna OK since somebody talked this baby who leads the country, and can order nuke strikes, out of another uncontrolled frenzy? Forget impeachment, 25th amendment time.
Trump Suddenly Doesn’t Seem So Sorry About The ‘Send Her Back’ Chant
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-not-sorry-omar-send-her-back-chant
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Well getting eyeballs and clicks really is their job, that is the measurement used as to how effective they are, it’s really the only way to sell advertising, the only thing that owners worry about. Sure the faux world is about shaping/pushing the right farther to the right which is why you see them on most every public TV, they are effective at spreading bullshit. They have self proclaimed experts on every segment, and almost all of them couldn’t empty the water out of a boot with instructions on the sole. And signs everywhere telling them the instructions are there.
What faux knows how to do is bullshit. They are masters at it. They hire the best bullshitters.
Aleta
@hitchhiker:
They are a racist family down to the bitter marrow in their bones.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Scotian:
I’m so sorry to hear this is happening to you. I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts and wish you well
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“Poor” Tiffany is just as much of a phony as Ivanka and Malania. She had no problem attending that UK state visit with Daddy, despite everything he’s done
sherparick
@rikyrah: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS” Les Moonves, then CEO CBS, 29 February 2016. Hence,America’s large media corporations are very conflicted about Trump. And the guys and gals in the C-suites love the tax cuts and laissez-faire on regulation. So, no I don’t think the MSM will save us.
MoxieM
Such a perfect post. May I only suggest “jack-boot-shit” for “jack-shit” in how much any Trump cares? thank you very much.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
In late 2004 and 2005, just before I left OH, there was a lot of building going on. Someone would buy a piece of farmland and put up houses, built with the standard CA rules, no more than 6 ft between houses, cheap prices per sq foot so they’d sell fast. It was a glut of cheap housing in an area of more than enough homes and enough land to have a yard and it depressed the market badly and filled it with crap. All in the name of making a buck but nothing in the name of creating decent housing. It was a major symptom of the crash that hit hard 2 yrs later, that of never invest wisely, always give the marks what they think they need, and never mind that it’s a shitty job of even doing that. What’s worse, it worked fine. It was bullshit on a gigantic scale and such a massive fuck up that the only thing to keep from making it far worse was to pay off exactly the wrong people for having done it in the first place. And here we are, the worst people got their payoff, the racist in chief.
The media is complicit? No, they are a massive part of the problem. But it’s not that they do a bad job, it’s that they get rewarded for it. They are still in business, they will remain in business, selling the same crap, for boat loads of money. 1984 is here, but George got the perps wrong, it’s not our government that is doing this nor is everyone suffering.
Ruckus
@grubert:
THIS.
I’ve owned two businesses. One had employees and I owned and ran it for nearly 2 decades. My father owned and ran it for almost that long before me. We had employees. Skilled employees. We wanted them to create the products the way we wanted because our name was on the door, on the paperwork and on the checks we signed. Neither of us were blind to the concept that people worked hard, had great skills, good ideas and work ethics. But we were the owners and our name was on the door. It’s no different in any business or any type of work. It’s the owners, not the workers who set policy, quality, the end product. If the product is good, it’s everyone who invested time, energy and skill getting there and the owner who benefits most. If the product is crap, it’s the owner for not having the vision or smarts or skills to motivate the employees or demand better or to have demanded crap in the first place. Either way the product is the end result but the onus for quality is on the owner.
banditqueen
@Scotian:
Blessings and peace to you and yours
Bill Arnold
(Venting because really really irritated at Evil-Americans, apologies if already linked.)
The EPA is now officially OK with deliberately causing lifelong IQ-lowering brain damage caused by prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Pure evil.
E.P.A. Won’t Ban Chlorpyrifos, Pesticide Tied to Children’s Health Problems (Lisa Friedman, July 18, 2019)
Said “health problems” are primarily brain damage, described in a Columbia University study.
Here’s a piece on the “transparency rule”, which is basically says means that study participants should be willing to be subjected to hostile treatment of corporate attorneys, investigators and other “life-fuckers”. Else the science is invalid. Said rules do not apply to other aspects of EPA/etc decision-making, of course.
The E.P.A. Says It Wants Research Transparency. Scientists See an Attack on Science. (Lisa Friedman, March 26, 2018)
EPA will not ban use of controversial pesticide linked to children’s health problems – The agency says the widely used chemical chlorpyrifos is an important tool for the nation’s farmers. (Brady Dennis, Juliet Eilperin, July 18, 2019)
J R in WV
@Betty Cracker:
Haberman’s Mom works for a NYC Public Relations firm who is hired to pump Trump up — they’ve been doing this for decades now, and helped put Maggie Haberman thru all those elite private schools.
Her father is or was a writer for the NYTimes, where I’m sure he helped his wife with her PR tasks. No one in the family appears to have any ethics, so why not? Right?
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold:
Link to Columbia Study for those who want to read what the EPA has declared it can ignore:
Seven-Year Neurodevelopmental Scores and Prenatal Exposure to Chlorpyrifos, a Common Agricultural Pesticide (2011)
Results: On average, for each standard deviation increase in CPF exposure (4.61 pg/g), Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ) declined by 1.4% and Working Memory declined by 2.8%. Final covariates included maternal educational level, maternal IQ, and quality of the home environment. We found no significant interactions between CPF and any covariates, including the other chemical exposures measured during the prenatal period (environmental tobacco smoke and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
J R in WV
@opiejeanne:
Benson AZ is a small town on I-10 45 miles or so east of Tucson. I’m sure the developer intends this as a retirement community, hence the golf courses, but it could also be a bedroom community outside Tucson. I’ve bought material for our little house in the high desert in Benson, and stop there on the way from Tucson to home after flying in.
It is a tiny town with a Walmart and a Safeway. There are lots of small rural communities that depend upon Benson as their commercial center, there’s a big Sheriff’s Department office and a hospital.
It’s interesting country, heavily eroded by poor grazing back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Settlers from Texas saw lots of grass, moved in big herds of cattle, but once that grass was eaten, none grew back, it was hundreds of years of growth in a very dry climate that will never recover.
And the river is mostly dry bed but for the brief rainy season, but is still a migratory bird corridor because of the sparse wet pools which so far allow birds to drink and refresh on their way north or south. So far.
grubert
@Brachiator:
All that is true.
But my point is that a large corporation is *different* then what was before.
And that large corporate employees act differently then the old medium sized privately-owned news business employees acted. Especially the highest-paid ones.
High-paid large corporate employees are capable of breathtaking acts of wide-eyed credulity in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary… if that credulity helps them to keep their jobs.
Ben Cisco
@Scotian: So very sorry for what you are going through. Wishing you peace, fair winds, and following seas.
grubert
@Ruckus:
Thanks for putting it so clearly..
Yeah, one doesn’t *have* to have worked in a large corporation to get it..
notoriousJRT
I am sure it has been stated already, but they ARE suckers every time.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Scotian:
I’m sorry to hear that. I hope everything turns out well, whatever your definition of “well” may be at this point.
Steeplejack
@Scotian:
Van Morrison, “Into the Mystic.”
notoriousJRT
@Scotian:
I am keeping you in my thoughts. Glad you are with us.
Emma
@Scotian: Keeping you in my prayers. May you find the grace and strength to make the right decisions for yourself and your family.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Scotian: All my best to you and to your family.
Ruckus
@grubert:
Actually a large corporation may be harder to have a quality product, quality being that elusive thing that defines how good something works. In a large corp you have the share holder(s). You have more levels of management, all of whom are looking out for their own welfare and
likelypossibly that of the corp. They also buffer the information and desires of the owners from the staff and vice versa . And that management staff must be trained by someone to have the “skills” to do their jobs. And some way must exist for the people who hire to understand that someone has the necessary skills for a job all the while having to justify their continuing presence. It’s a system that exists to exist. And as long as the owners care about the product it can work and sometimes work well. As soon as the owners care more about their income rather than the product…….So the product is good enough. Or not. And sometimes the very size of the corp helps it absorb the ups and downs and protects it from own mistakes and bad management. For a while.
But for a corp whose product is words, words which can be repeated, reused, misunderstood, and which will be replaced tomorrow with more words, the product is the sale of that fleeting product before anyone knows how crappy it is. Crap can be forgotten after it is recycled or flushed, because it is meaningless once it exists outside the creator and there will be more tomorrow. If the original creator is gone, someone else will step in and create more. And it’s crap so in reality it doesn’t matter who creates it so as long as someone is buying, why replace them with another crap manufacturer?
grubert
@Ruckus:
Again, all of what you say is true.. very true. And your point about after-the-fact evaluation being fruitless is new to me.
My point was a much smaller one. In the big corporate world, I’ve seen amazing degrees of willful blindness in service of the owners interests that just wouldn’t happen in a more blue-collar setting. Maybe it’s the pay, maybe it’s the corporate culture or social reinforcement.
At times it’s almost like a cult.
Ruckus
@grubert:
It’s a job, a life, a home. We all have to make money some way or we sleep in a gutter. We become involved in making the job a major segment of our lives because it makes lives possible. We can easily take that too far and many do. You don’t have to be management to do that but it helps because you have a bit more freedom to do that.
That after the fact being fruitless applies to media and possibly other segments. Once that paper is sold or that show is shown, it’s time for the next day’s story or show. Notice that to read the FTFNYT or the WP or most any bigger media platform you have to have a subscription. First. Sure there are trial subscriptions and some have a maximum number of clicks for free looks, but you really don’t get more than a taste without paying because any particular story is just a blip on the overall concept, which is that you pay for access, not the quality. And as there is only one FTFNYT people pay. The quality can be crap but people pay. And pay anyway. Crap or not.
The sun comes up the sun goes down, the media exposure comes up the media exposure goes down. Every day is a new day, a reset. Think media, now think refrigerator. You don’t get a new refrig every day, you want it to last at least a while. You get a new story every day, the limit of fallibility isn’t the same.
smedley the uncertain
@rikyrah: Probably too late to post, but I know that neighborhood around Benson. Up until 25 yrs ago I owned 40 acres on the San Pedro 7 miles north of Benson. The river ran dry regularly. We thought about posting a sign at the river ford saying ‘San Pedro River In Season’. That river allegedly went underground after an earth quake in the late 19th century flooding the mines all around Tombstone. Interesting factoid, the river flows north out of Mexico and often suffers pollution from the mines in Cananea, MX.
StringOnAStick
@Scotian: Peace and love to you and your dear wife. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Scotian: I think of you often and hold you in the light. My wish for you is that this time be as peaceful and free of pain as possible. I’m grateful that you’ve been part of this community.
Kathleen
@Scotian: Thank you for sharing. Holding you and your family in light, love and prayers.
chopper
@Scotian:
aw, jesus i’m sorry. this sucks.
Scotian
To all that are checking this thread to see if I came back, I did. My heart is so full of warmth from all the responses. Given how bad everything is for me and Siobhan ( my wife) that counts for so much. The offer for physio is kind, but I am more concerned with other costs like my cremation fee. One of the problems we are having is resources because we are poor disabled people, but the offer itself was well received and appreciated all the more for the fact it was unsolicited. Again it shows why the jackel community is such a wonder and why I stayed here even while cutting out all other blogs and forums I was ever active in.
You are no less remarkable to me in your reactions to my situation as you all find me in how I am facing this nightmare. That is how it looks to me
David C Macdonald
Steeplejack
@Scotian:
I think it likely that the jackaltariat would be very happy to cover your cremation fee—would insist on it, actually. I’ll bring it up in an open thread tomorrow.
Wishing you peace and freedom from pain. ??
JanieM
@Steeplejack: Seconded on all counts.
Mel
@JanieM: @Steeplejack: Would it also help if there were an address to send gift cards to (for favorite restaurants or grocery delivery or etc)?
That might be helpful and ease the stress of dealing with daily logistics a little bit for Scotian’s family. The less time and money spent on day-to-day tasks like having to do shopping, the more time they have just to be together. Every minute is precious, and every penny counts when you’re up against medical expenses.
Maybe one of the front pagers would be able to see if Scotian and his family feel like that would be useful to them?
Steeplejack
@Mel:
I sent an email to Anne Laurie.