Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

I really should read my own blog.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Usually wrong but never in doubt

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Friday Evening Open Thread: Mike Bloomberg Can Afford to Drive the Media Horse-Race Touts Nuts(ier)

Friday Evening Open Thread: Mike Bloomberg Can Afford to Drive the Media Horse-Race Touts Nuts(ier)

by | 176 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Earlier this week, while everyone was busy watching the impeachment inquiry:

Maybe not the most effective political advertising strategy, but talk about an Oligarch Status “prestige” move!

But also:

Today:

“Huge show of financial force!!!”…

… The ad buy will begin on Monday in more than two dozen states from California to Maine, according to ad trackers. This initial television campaign will feature 60-second ads — a sign of a huge 2020 Bloomberg campaign budget that could easily stretch into the nine-figure range.

The scope of Mr. Bloomberg’s ad buy is staggering. It costs more than some smaller campaigns have spent all year on advertising…

The spending on Friday follows a separate $100 million digital ad campaign Mr. Bloomberg is funding that will solely target President Trump. Together, his ad buys signal his willingness to wield his wealth in perhaps unparalleled ways to oust Mr. Trump from the White House….

Mr. Bloomberg, with an estimated net worth of more than $50 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in America, with a fortune that dwarfs even Mr. Steyer’s…

On Friday, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign submitted forms to television stations designating himself as a federal candidate, which entitles him to the lowest price available for ads.

Among the other steps he has taken before formally declaring his bid: he filed to be on the ballot in Arkansas, Alabama and Texas; announced the digital ad campaign against Mr. Trump and launched a $15 million voter registration drive…

Ya gotta love that frugal fillip: Bloomberg is worth, at a minimum, $50 billion dollars… but he’s still careful to ask for the senior citizen federal candidate advertising discount. Of course, that native Massachusetts frugality (Mike was born in Medford, but realized early that NYC is where you make the big dollars) is part of why he’s got fifty bill to throw around. Except, of course, he’s not spending more than a tiny fraction of that!

He did, per the Washington Post, have his aides “file papers to join [the] Democratic race” :

… Advisers said Thursday that the filing was a step toward running for president, following several state ballot registrations, but not an official announcement or public signal that he had made a final decision. An adviser said the timing of the filing was triggered by his earlier application for a spot on the Alabama ballot…

His bid would be built around his effectively bottomless pockets, since no presidential campaign has ever come close to spending the resources at Bloomberg’s disposal. His advisers expect to work without a preset budget or any outside fundraising efforts, a fact that will bar him from participation in the December party debates, which require candidates to meet a donor threshold…

Maybe he’s serious this time! Not like all those other aborted announcements that this time, for sure, he’d get out there in the trenches and get his hands dirty!

Or maybe he’s tossing his advisors some couch change, giving them some creative stimulation to keep them busy, while not-so-subtly making the point that Trump is a cheapjack grifter hustling the rubes on Putin’s dime and the ooh-shiny! distractability of America’s Media Village Idiots. Josh Barro had an interesting article in NYMag this week, pointing out how Bloomberg’s wealth is both larger and harder to parse than the billionaires usually featured on celebrity media.

Mike has never hesitated to spend money on things he really wants, like a third term as NYC mayor, but he doesn’t seem to get a kick out of the usual Thorstein Veblen status markers. When expensive knick-knacks and celebrity parties don’t thrill, why not spend a small fraction of one’s otherwise unspendably vast fortune for a (fully legal!) public display of political influence?

It’s not as though Bloomberg’s committing to the worst parts of campaigning — begging for donations, slogging through the debates, hanging around grip’n’grinning in states whose only entertainment value is watching the rubes bait the journos.

Assuming he finally officially Announces, he’s prepared to visit his existing army of gun-safety and voter-registration volunteers in the nicer cities, while letting the earned-media professionals who’d otherwise be promoting some other billionaires’ status advertise Bloomberg’s personal ability to ‘move the news’. Even media assaults will only prove how much power Bloomberg has to ignore what would be ‘devastating’ to lesser pols (and it’s not as though Mike didn’t have some experience with some of the most vicious political reporters in the American media already; bad news is not gonna come as a surprise to him or his employees.) Not a bad hobby, for a man of his age and tastes!

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  1. 1.

    lamh36

    Gonna post this here, since the last thread has gotten a bit derailed thanks to the choice of title.

    @NolanDMcCaskill
    NEW: The longest-serving African American man on the South Bend Common Council is endorsing Biden over Buttigieg, calling the mayor’s problems with black voters “a consistent issue that has not gone away.”

    twitter.com/NolanDMcCaskill/status/1197931784593387521

    The councilman makes some great points and NONE of them have anything to do with Pete being a gay man.

    When asked if he thinks @PeteButtigieg can win the general election with such low support from black voters, Council Vice President Oliver Davis replied:

    “I doubt it. I sincerely doubt it.”

    When asked if he thinks @PeteButtigieg can win the general election with such low support from black voters, Council Vice President Oliver Davis replied:

    “I doubt it. I sincerely doubt it.”

    On Pete’s Douglass plan,

    “It’s very difficult and very frustrating to talk about a Douglass Plan when he did not perform that while he was the mayor here in town.”

    “He should’ve run on the Douglass Plan in 2011 or 2015. Had success with it, shared it with Indiana, run nationally. I would’ve been the 1st one to champion that. But to see that he champions it across the country when it wasn’t practiced here has brought me great concern.”

    He also says Pete was missing in action during his failed 2010 run for state treasurer, when Davis and other local leaders were fighting for LGBT rights.

    I’m sure the response from supporters will be this guy is “that old guard” upset with the young upstart, oh and his probably a homophobe.

    But guess what, when you stop and think about it, if polls are correct, Pete is actually polling lower than Chump with Black voters. And I’m sorry, but that can’t all be attributed to “homophobia” in the Black community.

    Smh…damn

  4. 4.

    kindness

    Bloomberg can spend every penny of his money and he won’t win the nomination nor will he knock Warren off her game.

  5. 5.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    He won’t even win NYC.

     

    This will be embarrassing beyond belief.

     

    In 2008 Giuliani raised more money then any other republican, including Mittens.  He was a media darling (Tweety couldn’t like his boot fast enough), hailed as America’s Mayor and the hero of… wait for it…   9/11.

     

    Yet with all that money and free adoring media, Giuliani failed to win a single delegate.  Not one!

     

    The same humiliation awaits Bloomberg.

     

    Not that the media will report it.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    This all started out with so much promise and is rapidly sliding back to the same old, same old. Sigh.

  10. 10.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    @Baud: Ironically, you have a higher net worth than Dump, who is in debt to the Яussians to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    I think Schiff is waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if his subpeonas can be enforced. If so, I’m sure he’ll make time for additional testimony.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    If Bloomberg ads are aimed at trump, I’m all for them to run.   30 mil spent attacking trump will hurt.  They won’t help Bloomberg, but they will definitely hurt trump.   Now if he is attacking other dems preaching a better, then f..kem.

  14. 14.

    The Lodger

    So other than the ad discount and the product placement of being ID’ed as “presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg”, what are the advantages of candidacy over just buying a shit-ton of issue ads? Do candidate ads get run at better times than other political ads? There is a game being played here, but I don’t know what it is.

  15. 15.

    Anne Laurie

    @David ??Booooooo?? Koch:

    This will be embarrassing beyond belief.

    But not, probably, to Mike Bloomberg.  Of course he won’t get the nomination — still assuming he makes it official — but even the negative attention he draws will be further proof, to the people who count in Mike’s world (Hank Paulson, people who still think Henry Kissinger is a name worth dropping), that Mike Bloomberg Is A Force to Be Reckoned With.

     

    Heck, he could probably write off any campaign-related expenses as advertising for his Bloomberg Terminals, because it’ll make those boxes and the related media subscriptions even more valuable as Wall Street status markers!

  17. 17.

    Lapassionara

    I do like the voter registration stuff, if it really happens. That is where the need is great.

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    @The Lodger:

    There is a game being played here, but I don’t know what it is.

    IMO, “Mike Bloomberg can afford to waste more money than Trump can even dreamed of grifting.”  

    Had I as much money available as Mike Bloomberg, that would be my motivation, anyways!

  22. 22.

    hilts

     

    Read Bloomberg’s collected comments about women and you’ll marvel at how presidential they sound by the standards of the 45th president. Like Donald Trump, the former New York City mayor has made repeated remarks about the physical appearance and sexual desirability of women in his workplace. Like Trump, Bloomberg has allegedly complained about employees getting pregnant. Like Trump, he’s bragged about his sexual escapades and dismissed women who’ve accused him of harassment as money-grubbing liars.

     

     

    The “I’d do her” admission comes from a deposition in a sexual harassment suit filed by Sekiko Sakai Garrison, one of four women who filed harassment or discrimination suits against Bloomberg LP, the company founded by the former mayor, in 1996 and 1997. Garrison alleged that, when she told Bloomberg she was pregnant, he replied, “Kill it!” and grumbled that she was the 16th pregnant employee at the company. She also said Bloomberg and other company leaders made unwanted sexual overtures and engaged in regular sexual commentary about the women they worked with. After Garrison got engaged, she said, Bloomberg asked her of her fiancé, “What, is he that good in bed, or did your father pay him off to get rid of you?”

     

    h/t https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/michael-bloomberg-democratic-campaign-sexism.html

  26. 26.

    debbie

    Trying again.

     

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I’m off Twitter for nine days barring some fact check emergency more severe than the regular fact check emergency. See you all later.</p>&mdash; Daniel Dale (@ddale8) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1198003074570342400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 22, 2019</a></blockquote>

  27. 27.

    hells littlest angel

    Have right-wingers exposed this yet as a conspiracy of rootless cosmopolitans to crucify take down Donald Trump?

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    You’re right. Until now, Embedding tweets in by using the visual text box and then removing all coding after the </blockquote> works. Hopefully, WaterGirl will see this.

     

    Bummer.

     

    Update: It does work when it’s in the text box.

  30. 30.

    lamh36

    @CoryBooker

    More

    5 years ago, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was gunned down by a cop who saw this child as a man—yet he would still be a child today. Even in death, Tamir’s innocence was stolen. We need racial bias training at all levels of law enforcement & do more to protect our Black children.

    12:38 PM – 22 Nov 2019

  34. 34.

    hilts

    @lamh36:

     

    Has this councilman actually seen Biden lately?  I have and I can’t imagine Uncle Joe having the energy to barnstorm multiple times across the nation between the convention and the general election.  I also dread the avalanche of gaffes he’d unleash.

    If he doesn’t want to endorse Mayor Buddha fine, but Biden looks and sounds worn out and it’s fucking insane to nominate any person over 75 years old for the presidency.

  36. 36.

    TaMara (HFG)

    If these billionaires would focus on solving problems instead of these vanity campaigns, think of all the hungry children they could feed, all the jobs they could create, all the innovations they could fund to fight climate change. For that reason alone, I’d never vote for them. The fact they are pretty worthless as human beings and piss-poor politicians only adds to their ineligibility in my eyes.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    but he’s still careful to ask for the senior citizen federal candidate advertising discount.

    Disingenuous. If it is a duly registered campaign, the rate level is mandated by federal regulation. Any buy by a campaign above and beyond that prevailing rate would put the broadcaster in violation of regulations. Any duly registered campaign does not have to ask for the rate, it is a requirement for broadcast outlets that it be adhered to.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @chris:

    Jeez, that’s a true shame. He was iconic and IMO on the level of Charles Addams and a few others, like Edward Gorey.

    r.i.p. sir.

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JPL:

    30 mil spent attacking trump will hurt.

    If it’s $30 mil aimed at attacking Dump, I hope he focuses on red states. California doesn’t need ads attacking Dump. Dump shows CA what a POS he is all on his own.

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    ‪Smh…go and read this entire twitter thread guys…Lindsey Graham is a sad little man. that’s it. Chump likely has nothing on him he’s just a sad man who needs to folllow and be in the shadow of some one with . more power than him..and because of that, he’s willing to sell out the entire country!‬

  47. 47.

    Joe Falco

    @mrmoshpotato: Amen to that. Bloomberg has  enough money to puncture the Fox News bubble people in red states are in and maybe at least discourage some Republicans away from voting for the orange troll.

  49. 49.

    Just Chuck

    @kindness: I honestly think this time he knows it, and just personally wants Trump out.  Well, that’s what I tell myself, but either way he doesn’t have a prayer, so it’s not like it matters.

  50. 50.

    Just Chuck

    @The Lodger: Gives him more buzz, perhaps interviews, more recognition after personal appearances in an ad, less sinister than a superPAC, I dunno.  Maybe he actually is that deluded.  He certainly was power-hungry enough as mayor.

  51. 51.

    chris

    If Bloomberg spends 40 million dollars a week on anti-shitgibbon ads from now until the election he’ll still be worth 50 billion so I hope he does. But the nomination? Unlikely at best.

  52. 52.

    Just Chuck

    Bill Gates seems to be doing an all right job at philanthropy.  God knows we need more like him.  I’m slightly astonished I just said that about Bill Gates.

  53. 53.

    Dan B

    @lamh36:  Thanks for posting this.  It baffles me that Pete keeps trying to make steps towards showing support for POC but hasn’t come to the conclusion that he must go all-in when there has been a constant drum beat that he has minimal support from POC or for POC.  Putting out some position papers and consulting a few leaders of the black community makes the lack of robust effort painfully apparent.

    I grew into the Civil Rights Movement as a teenager.  The Gay Liberation Movement was full of people who had been civil rights supporters and activists, and who were part of or supporters of the women’s movement.  There were a fair number of socialists as well but not as many as those whose experiences were forged in civil rights.  Pete’s from a generation who doesn’t know about the evolution or who know the history but didn’t have the visceral experience of “charming people” who hid horrifying bigotry.  The crucible of the Civil Rights Movement peeled back the curtain that shielded naive white kids from the fear and hatred seething beneath the loving veneer of our neighbors.  It wasn’t just that you would not be elected Mayor.  It was clear to us young LGBT activists that we could be pushed out of school, locked in mental institutions, lobotomized, fired from jobs, locked up on false pedophile charges, and threatened with murder.

     

    The dew is on Pete’s world view.  It’s not on mine or on most black people.

     

    At the same time a poll in Georgia showed Kamala and Pete as top picks for black voters with everyone else in mid to low digits.  The trope that black voters are homophobic is a myth.  White voters are not a monolith and neither are POC.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @clay: I feel certain that it’s intended by someone – because for me they are appearing at every comment that is a multiple of 10.

  55. 55.

    lamh36

    @hilts: what da fu does that have to do with the real issue in fuqn South Bend, ya know Mayor Pete’s day job is.  The guy is citing some seemingly reasonable issues he had with Pete.

     

    So it doesn’t so much matter whi he chose to endorse but the fact that he didn’t chose to endorse he own damn Mayor says something esp since Pete touts his experience with Blacks in South Bend

  57. 57.

    jk

    @lamh36:

     

    Lindsey Graham has devolved into a soulless, gutless bed wetter.  Besides Moscow Mitch, there’s no other Republican senator I’d love to see lose on Election Day.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie:

    @zhena gogolia:

    You copy the twitter embed code, go to the comment box, click on the Text tab, paste in your tweet, and press Post Comment.

    If you’re a front pager, that process gets you a fully embedded tweet with images, videos, whatever, in the comment.

    If you’re a regular commenter, you can post the same exact code, and because you are not logged in, it strips the video, images, etc and leaves you with the text and the links.

    Edit: I was going to ad that if you follow those instructions and it doesn’t work, then there’s a problem. But I got a phone call before I could finish typing so i said screw it and posted the comment without the final line.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    Mike Bloomberg belongs to an ilk who believe that, because they are self-made and very rich, they have the ability to take on any job and do it magnificently. He and his ilk forget that Trump won* the presidency by being a flaming asshole playing to an audience of flaming assholes. Bloomberg will do well as a candidate among his peers, but he won’t win over anyone else. His candidacy is going to sink without trace, and when his ghostwritten memoirs are published I doubt we will see it mentioned.

     

    *this word simply needs an asterisk

  62. 62.

    Spanky

    I don’t know their personal relationship, but as they’re both New Yorkers, it’s possible that Bloomberg simply has a real, visceral hatred of Trump. That amount of money is pocket change for Mike.

  63. 63.

    hilts

    @lamh36:

     

    I’ve never supported Mayor Pete.  My point is this isn’t a binary fucking choice.  This councilman could have endorsed Warren, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar, Castro et al  Instead, he endorses the 2nd oldest candidate with the worst communication skills.

     

    Regardless of Biden’s current polling numbers, he’s a lousy campaigner and he’d get destroyed in a general election match-up with Trump.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

     

    I have to leave, so here is how just pasting the code in looks:

    There was a time when decorated war heroes engendered respect in America. Especially from southern GOP Senators. My how Trump has cheapened you all. https://t.co/UBuu8M8zsu— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) November 23, 2019

    Son of a  bitch. It wasn’t working earlier. Thanks.

  65. 65.

    zhena gogolia

    @clay:

     

    Me too. It reminds me of when the NYT started having ads on the news pages. And now the TV Guide crossword puzzle is part of a Chevrolet ad and has “Chevy” clues.

  67. 67.

    zhena gogolia

    Okay, testing, because my last comment hasn’t shown up no matter what I do.

     

    ETA: After I posted this comment, I could see my previous one.

  68. 68.

    lamh36

    I still blame Schmidt and Wallace and the McCain cabal for Palin and everything that followed since, including Chump,  but damn did Schmidt perfectly describe Lindsay Graham or what!

     

    I will do my best to explain. It is a mistake to think there is inconsistency between the McCain era And Trump Era. Graham is Essentially a pilot fish. They eat parasites and live off the detritus of larger fish. McCain was a noble shark who sustained his pilot fish.

     

    This did not make the Pilot fish noble though, just well fed. Sometimes Pilot fish move on. They are not loyal or faithful. Just hungry. Today he lives off of the vile detritus of his new host, Trump. He is indifferent to the disgustingness. He just wants his little piece

    https://twitter.com/steveschmidtses/status/1198002993913880576?s=21

  69. 69.

    Jay

    @Just Chuck:

     

    Bill Gates started retiring in 2000 and switched over to charity. In the 19 years since of giving his money away he has over twice as much money now, as in 2000.

  70. 70.

    JMG

    If I had Bloomberg’s money I sure as hell would spend it on something more fun than TV ads that will just people wish I’d go away. Every one of those ads is just a setup for Warren in the next debate to say, “You don’t need the money I’ll take with the wealth tax. You’re pissing it away right now.”

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

     

    I do not understand your instructions.

     

    On the old site, I could cut and paste the text of a tweet into my comment and then make it a blockquote. I can’t any more.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: If you start in the Visual tab in the Comment window, and paste HTML, and then click on the Text tab, yes you will get a bunch of HTML gibberish.

     

    Don’t do that.  ;-)

     

    To elaborate on Water Girl’s comment:

    • If you’re wanting to post an “embedded tweet”, you want to do it in the Text tab.
    • You can use the buttons in the Visual or the Text tabs to do blockquotes.  But you can only do the [blockquote][/blockquote] manual HTML blockquote in the Text tab.

    I hope this helps a little.

     

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  77. 77.

    danielx

    @Anne Laurie:

    One can only hope. I suspect that stomping Trump is one of Bloomberg’s fondest wishes, simply because he’s giving billionaires an even worse name than already have. And he’s a fake billionaire at that!

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: Did you get my email, by the way?  I had to send it from webmail because outlook was hinky today, so I can’t tell whether it went through.

  82. 82.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @zhena gogolia: That was a little complicated. It’s this:

     

    1. choose embed code from tweet
    2. in comment box, click on Text tab. (to the right of Visual tab)
    3. paste embed code
    4. hit enter

    The tweet will show up in a quote box, with link to original tweet.

  83. 83.

    Chyron HR

    In Bloomberg’s defense, when he loses he’s probably not going to claim the DNC rigged the vote against him, unlike some candidates.

  84. 84.

    Dan B

    @chris: One of my favorite Gahan Wilson toons was a little kid standing in his crib bawling in that classic Wilson kid tantrum way – head back, torrent of tears straight up, entire face and chin quivering.  The parents are opening the door to the bedroom.  With annoyed looks yhe caption says “Okay, what’s it about this time?”  Behind the door is the most horrid, tentacled, wart covered, green monster.

     

    It threw the whole kid-having-a-crazy-nightmare on its head.  And set up the imminent OMG!

  85. 85.

    Jay

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    the other way, is in visual, click link. Paste in the link to the tweet, (an option if you click on the underscore/arrow up icon in twitter),

     

    once the link is pasted, a gear icon will appear, click on that, and a field will open up in which you can cut and paste the text of the tweet.

     

    it’s a lot easier to click on embedding the tweet, pasteing it in the text, not visual form, then delete everything from <script> to </script> to remove the code that will turn the post into gibberish.

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    I am going to log out of WordPress and paste in the exact same code as a regular commenter and see what shows up. It should include the text and any links, and it will automatically appear in the blue-green-gray block quote format.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    Here you go ? 3 eggplants peeled and thinly sliced6 cups of spaghetti sauce is nice1 package of some shredded mozzarella Breadcrumbs are an important partThe ingredient love comes from the heartMake the oven 350 to cook your eggplant parma ? pic.twitter.com/vKZGxoNJK6— Max Dylan Ash (@mynameisntdave) September 8, 2019

  93. 93.

    Another Scott

    @Just Chuck:

    I’m a critic of Gates, myself. He destroyed a lot of good computer software technology through his company’s monopolistic practices.

    Diane Ravitch (from 2012):

    […]

    I believe that Bill and Melinda Gates want to establish a legacy as people who left the world a better place.

    But I think their their efforts to “reform” education are woefully mistaken.

    I have tried but had no luck in my efforts to meet Bill Gates. On the two occasions when I was in Seattle in the past year, I tried to arrange a meeting with him well in advance. He was never available.

    I am puzzled by what I read in the column cited here. I am also puzzled by the Gates Foundation’s persistent funding of groups that want to privatize public education. I am puzzled by their funding of “astroturf” groups of young teachers who insist that they don’t want any job protections, don’t want to be rewarded for their experience (of which they have little) or for any additional degrees, and certainly don’t want to be represented by a collective bargaining unit.

    I am puzzled by their funding of groups that are promoting an anti-teacher, anti-public education agenda in state after state. And I am puzzled by the hundreds of millions they have poured into the quixotic search to guarantee that every single classroom has a teacher that knows how to raise test scores.

    Sometimes I wonder if anyone at the Gates Foundation has any vision of what good education is, or whether they think that getting higher test scores is the same as getting a good education. I wonder if they ever think about their role in demoralizing and destabilizing the education profession.

    […]

    IIRC, there are similar examples in their efforts to combat disease and similar things. They may want to solve problems, but too often they want to do it by going around experts who have worked their whole lives on the problems.

    Having lots of money doesn’t make Gates and his Foundation experts in solving complex problems in the real world.

    My $0.02. YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    zhena, can you copy the text below, click the Text tab, and then paste exactly what I have below into the comment box, and press Post Comment. It should appear just like mine at #90.

     

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Here you go <br><br>? 3 eggplants peeled and thinly sliced<br><br>6 cups of spaghetti sauce is nice<br><br>1 package of some shredded mozzarella <br><br>Breadcrumbs are an important part<br><br>The ingredient love comes from the heart<br><br>Make the oven 350 to cook your eggplant parma ? <a href=”https://t.co/vKZGxoNJK6″>pic.twitter.com/vKZGxoNJK6</a></p>&mdash; Max Dylan Ash (@mynameisntdave) <a href=”https://twitter.com/mynameisntdave/status/1170822460113072128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
    <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

  96. 96.

    Mary G

    @WaterGirl: Speaking for myself, the ads across the comments were startling when I first saw them, but after a day I’m used to them, and I’d rather have them like this than a big wad of Taboola in a block. There are three in the side margin that don’t have video or I assume sound, which is really nice.

  97. 97.

    Marcopolo

    Soylent Green just starting on TCM for folks who are looking for that dystopian film set in NYC in 2022.

     

    Definitely got climate change right.

  98. 98.

    chris

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    cut and paste the text of a tweet

    Not the same as embedding a tweet. This is for anyone who might be wondering. Hope this helps.

    1)Click the pull-down arrow at the top right corner of the tweet.
    2)Click Embed Tweet, a box appears
    3)Copy the green highlighted stuff and bring it over here
    4)Open the comment box and click Text
    5)Paste the tweet.

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): I did the same math that you did!  John says tthere will be no video and no autoplay.  The old ads had started coming through even with the ad blocker, and that made me nuts.

    If the ads bug people, they should use an ad blocker.  I have nothing to do with the ads, so I am just expressing my opinion.

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: Do me a favor?  Find some twitter embed code, leave the last line with the script in it – WordPress automatically strips that out if you are not logged in.

     

    If the texts and links don’t show up in the blockquote box unless you remove the script, I would like to see what it’s doing for you, because you shouldn’t need to remove anything manually.

  103. 103.

    zhena gogolia

    @chris:

     

    I am not a member of Twitter. When I follow these instructions, I don’t see what people promise me I will see, I assume because I don’t belong to Twitter.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: Yeah, when clay mentioned the ads earlier I had to go to Chrome to see what they look like.  At least they don’t mess with the design of the site :-) they fit right into the space that’s about the size of the average comment.  So i appreciate that they aren’t messing with the design. :-)

  107. 107.

    zhena gogolia

    Here you go ? 3 eggplants peeled and thinly sliced6 cups of spaghetti sauce is nice1 package of some shredded mozzarella Breadcrumbs are an important partThe ingredient love comes from the heartMake the oven 350 to cook your eggplant parma ? pic.twitter.com/vKZGxoNJK6— Max Dylan Ash (@mynameisntdave) September 8, 2019

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: I am not on twitter, either.  For testing the site, I had to learn how to go find twitter embed code with the little carrot toward the top left of a tweet.  Click on that, choose embed code – some sites copy it to the clipboard automatically, others make you copy it.  I wonder if you are starting with something different than I am.

  112. 112.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl:  I tried to copy your Eggplant Parmesan  text.  I have no idea how to copy it.  I’m on a Samsung phone so it may not be possible.

     

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    I went to this tweet, and I clicked on the little arrow and chose “embed tweet”. I wonder i you are choosing “copy link to tweet”?

    Friday Evening Open Thread: Mike Bloomberg Can Afford to Drive the Media Horse-Race Touts Nuts(ier)

  117. 117.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia:  No you do not have to be a member of Twitter to click on the down arrow on the upper right corner of any tweet, then click Embed Tweet, copy what’s in the box and paste it anywhere you want.

  122. 122.

    zhena gogolia

    @chris:

     

    Now I’m seeing the pull-down. Back when I tried it before, I wasn’t seeing what everyone told me I would. Now I do.

  123. 123.

    Mary G

    Navy Secretary allows admin review to continue for Navy SEAL Gallagher: “I believe the process matters for good order and discipline.” He may get over-ruled by POTUS. But he’s right. And Sailors should be proud of the leadership he is demonstrating. https://t.co/yGcqSUbYsP— John Kirby (@johnfkirby63) November 23, 2019

     

     @WaterGirl:

     Well, you are right. I used to have to delete the script, but you seem to have fixed it, in FF at least. I just gave up on Chrome for the caching issues.

  124. 124.

    TS (the original)

    @Just Chuck:

     

    Bill Gates seems to be doing an all right job at philanthropy.

    Philanthropy means Gates chooses who is worthy – paying taxes allows a more equitable distribution to those in need. It also allows for expenditure outside of the definition of philanthropy.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Did the picture at #114 help?  If it was useful in figuring it out, I may leave it in case the pulldown arrow is a mystery to anyone else. Otherwise, I may just delete that comment.

  130. 130.

    scav

    @Mary G: Indeed Yes!  All on the record. Make that being a Seal only because the President needs a shiny news cycle / ego-burst status official.

  132. 132.

    Mary G

    Here is my question to the hive:

     

    I only get the “embed tweet” option when I click on a tweet’s arrow when I’m on the PC; it never shows up on the phone or tablet. Any tips on how to get the code on those devices?

  136. 136.

    zhena gogolia

    After Trump's impeachment, Melania dumped him and remarried, saying, "I've met a rich older man with lots of servants and told him to stop giving presents to children but just to me. I took one look at Mrs. Claus and thought 'Obvious first wife, get out of my way.' I'm so happy" pic.twitter.com/tgP5vlFBem— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) November 22, 2019

  139. 139.

    Dan B

    @chris: Would love to see the Gahan Wilson memories but your link(s) are in <blockquote> and href.  No amount of poking on my phone’s screen does anything.

     

    I was the kid who found a Cottonmouth Watermoccasin in the thick leaf litter in our backyard, slowly coaxed it into a box, verrry slowly.  And took ut mikes away.  That night I threw my mattress, screaming, onto my brother, (30 foot Watermoccasin, right?) asleep in the other bed.  I hope your siblings fared better.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: I sent the eggplant parmesan twitter link to myself by email. Opened email on my iPad, clicked the link. On my iPad, a twitter link automatically opens mobile.twitter.com – I have no idea if that happens on an android tablet or not.

    The same tweet came up in mobile twitter, and had the same little pulldown arrow the shows in the picture #113. When I click on that from my iPad, I get only one option instead of the two in #113: Embed Tweet.  I click that, it puts the code in a window and I can click on a blue button that says Copy Code. I assume at that point you copy the code and paste it into a BJ comment window using the TEXT tab (not visual).

  141. 141.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: I’m not getting banner ads, but I have one on the right that covers up the fly-whatever to get to the next post. It doesn’t move.

     

    ETA, oh there’s the banner ad. It’s the same width as the comments. I find it a lot less annoying than the one on the right.

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    @Mary G:  What browser do you use on phone or tablet? I can see the down arrow on the upper right corner of tweets on several mobile browsers.

  147. 147.

    Kent

    @Jay:  Bill Gates started retiring in 2000 and switched over to charity. In the 19 years since of giving his money away he has over twice as much money now, as in 2000.

     

    True, but the total amount Bill Gates has given to charity over that time is $45.5 BILLION.  Which is not nothing.

  149. 149.

    TS (the original)

    Testing1

     

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en-gb”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I’m off Twitter for nine days barring some fact check emergency more severe than the regular fact check emergency. See you all later.</p>&mdash; Daniel Dale (@ddale8) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1198003074570342400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>22 November 2019</a></blockquote>

    Edit remove last line

  150. 150.

    TS (the original)

    Test 2

    @chris:

     

    Thanks – first try I forgot to switch to the text box. 2nd try perfect. I’m not on twitter but it still works for me

     

    I’m off Twitter for nine days barring some fact check emergency more severe than the regular fact check emergency. See you all later.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) 22 November 2019

  151. 151.

    Another Scott

    @Kent: Unless things have changed, his Foundation gives away the bare minimum – 5.0% – of their funds annually.  They have to give away that much to keep their tax benefits, etc., as a foundation.

     

    I don’t think that’s so admirable, myself.  YMMV.

     

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  152. 152.

    Dan B

    Chris;  The links to Gahan Wilson seem to be formatted at 133.  Thanks

    @chris: 5 sisters!!

     

    There were several toons I don’t recall seeing before.  One commenter had the EAT diner “Do you suppose it can read?”

    Droll, brilliant, an entire story.

  153. 153.

    Yarrow

    @Mary G:  Oh, that may be the issue. Sorry, can’t help with that. Maybe ask in the next thread, which is all about embedding tweets.

  155. 155.

    Redshift

    @Dan B:

    There were several toons I don’t recall seeing before.  One commenter had the EAT diner “Do you suppose it can read?”

    Droll, brilliant, an entire story.

    Ah, that one was always my favorite!

  158. 158.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @lamh36: He also says Mayor Pete was missing in action during his failed 2010 run for state treasurer

     

    Maybe Pete was “missing in action during his failed 2010 run for state treasure” because he was actually serving in the US Navy Reserve at the time.

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    @frosty:

    I have [an ad] on the right that covers up the fly-whatever to get to the next post. It doesn’t move.

    With the ad on top of it, the wing won’t expand so you can click on it?  Can you get a screen capture?  Luckily, our developers are also doing the ads, so I doubt they want to step on the site design.

  163. 163.

    Repatriated

    Here you go ? 3 eggplants peeled and thinly sliced6 cups of spaghetti sauce is nice1 package of some shredded mozzarella Breadcrumbs are an important partThe ingredient love comes from the heartMake the oven 350 to cook your eggplant parma ? pic.twitter.com/vKZGxoNJK6— Max Dylan Ash (@mynameisntdave) September 8, 2019

    Innocuous test post

  165. 165.

    Jeffro

    We are very swiftly closing in on the day when, in desperation, the IC spills the beans about the entire CI investigation, including which politicians – mostly Republican, but not all – are on Putin‘s payroll

  166. 166.

    Donald Gisselbeck

    Henry Kissinger (the worst living mass murderer) has not been executed.  This is the principle objection to the death penalty.

  168. 168.

    Kent

    @Another Scott:

    @Kent: Unless things have changed, his Foundation gives away the bare minimum – 5.0% – of their funds annually.  They have to give away that much to keep their tax benefits, etc., as a foundation.

     

    I don’t think that’s so admirable, myself.  YMMV.

    That’s not all that unusual for an endowed charitable foundation.  The point is for it to be self-sustaining so that it is still in place long after the Gates are gone.  Like the Ford Foundation (established in 1936 by Henry Ford) or the Kellogg Foundation (established in 1934 by the Kellogg’s cereal founder).

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    @Kent:

    That’s not what they claim they’re going to do.

    Horse’s mouth:

    Because Bill, Melinda, and Warren believe the right approach is to focus the foundation’s work in the 21st century, we will spend all of our resources within 20 years after Bill’s and Melinda’s deaths. In addition, Warren has stipulated that the proceeds from the Berkshire Hathaway shares he still owns upon his death are to be used for philanthropic purposes within 10 years after his estate has been settled.

    The decision to use all of the foundation’s resources in this century underscores our optimism for progress and determination to do as much as possible, as soon as possible, to address the comparatively narrow set of issues we’ve chosen to focus on.

    They could do much more, quicker. It’s not like the need isn’t there, now. And they could actually pay much more in taxes now, also too.

    Again, YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  172. 172.

    FelonyGovt

    @WaterGirl: Mine doesn’t look like that at all. From the drop down arrow I just get the following options: Follow [the person], Mute [the person], Mute this conversation, Block [the person], or Report.
    This is on the Twitter app on my iPhone.

  176. 176.

    J R in WV

    @Mary G:

     

    I am usually trying to do this in Twitter, though, not in a browser.

    Maybe you should try it in a browser, you can visit Twitter in any browser, and they are more like a multipurpose tool than the Twit app. I only see Twitter here on B-J…

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