I guess everyone was too busy writing about the election, the impeachment of our candy colored clown, and our impending deaths from coronavirus to write about this fucking asshole:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday accused an NPR reporter of lying about whether a conversation he initiated with her had been deemed off the record, a charge that NPR denied.
Pompeo’s statement, however, did not address NPR’s explosive account of the conversation — that he shouted at reporter Mary Louise Kelly, used expletives, indicated that she had questioned him about Ukraine under false pretenses in a just-completed interview, and asked her, “Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?”
The exchange came as Pompeo, President Trump’s longest-serving and closest senior adviser on national security, has been criticized for his conduct related to both Ukraine and Iran and his disregard for congressional and media questions about it.
In a statement, Pompeo called the NPR episode “another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration.”
Trump is bad, but this guy is a little bit smarter and more informed version, with thinner skin and an even more punchable face. I hope NPR finally learns that there’s no bargaining with terrorists and gets out of their toxic, abusive relationship with the view from nowhere, but it’s probably more likely that they’ll start cranking out beat sweeteners featuring Pompeo’s dog and kids.
germy
germy
germy
Baud
Just remember, Pompeo was too chickenshit to face the voters of Kansas.
Baud
@germy: No lie told.
Raoul
I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised that Nancy Barnes, NPR VP of News, has a spine. She used to run the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and I wouldn’t have thought she’d step up in this way.
It has helped that the press release State put out was such obvious bull. The bit about Bangladesh was a childish, idiotic self-own.
Oh, and since we’re talking about Pompeo’s terrible leadership, seems the US screwed the pooch in sending a relative nobody to an important Omani funeral (UK sent Prince Charles).
debbie
I dispute this. If he were smarter, he wouldn’t have picked Bangeladesh as the country she really picked; he’d have gone for one closer that lots of people might not know, like Kazakhstan.
schrodingers_cat
Speaking of which does Orange T surround himself with fatter men than himself? Pompeo and Barr come to mind. Corpulent and corrupt.
OzarkHillbilly
Just like every other member of this admin, another precious snowflake who melts down at the first ray of sunlight.
Another Scott
I was impressed by the way NPR was not sugar coating and not backing down on the report listening to ATC on the evening of the interview. They weren’t having any of it.
Now the fact that it takes one of their own being attacked for them to develop a spine about this, well… But it’s good that they didn’t back down or try to both-sides it.
We’ll see if it actually makes a difference though.
There have been noises about Pompeo leaving for a year or more – originally to run for Senate in Kansas. He eventually ruled that out, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he leaves in a few weeks/months (long enough that he can claim that this had nothing to do with it (and it very well might not)). It would be nice if the House rakes him over the coals about this and makes his remaining time even more painful. (The SoS has huge power to protect reporters elsewhere. And his remarks about Ukraine were actively hostile to US policy.)
Cheers,
Scott.
M31
@debbie:
yeah, I’ve heard speculation that he meant to say Belarus (which at least is in the right area) but fucked up and said Bangladesh, because he’s of course that dumb
Jeffro
Trumpov’s tweet threatening Schiff is blowing up nicely on Twitter this morning. Here’s hoping for a 3rd Article.
mad citizen
Can’t wait until next year when the adults are back in charge of things. We never get a single effing day off from the shytstorm.
Cheryl Rofer
NPR came out with a strong statement this morning supporting Kelly. I can’t find it, but here’s Pompeo’s response. It looks like he has deleted the tweet, but here’s a screen capture from a smart person.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: trump voter: “Kazakhstan? What are you? Some kind of libtard coastal elite making up countries that don’t even exist? I ain’t stoopid, ya know.”
OzarkHillbilly
@M31: “Belarus? You don’t fool me. Libtard! Everbody knows that’s a kind of big whale with big long teef comin’ out of it’s mouth!”
Amir Khalid
@germy:
Obama’s assessment sounds about right.
mad citizen
@Jeffro: Looking through them (15 tweets and counting this morning), I assume you’re referring to this one (pasting here as a service):
trumpov twitter:
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!
8:20 AM · Jan 26, 2020″
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Kazakhstan is a real country. In fact, I remember a documentary about it by this guy named Borat.
germy
Good thread about the parnas/trump tape. A “live” blog with quotes from the conversation:
Cheryl Rofer
Kazakhstan is the country I’m likely to point to if I respond quickly to a request to identify Ukraine. It’s much bigger and not far away. But then I remember that Ukraine is on the Black Sea.
I was wondering if Pompeo was thinking of Belarus rather than Bangladesh, too, although Bangladesh is the country I might choose if I were trying to make a big contrast.
Pompeo is smart. He is good at masking it with his bland expressions, but he let that expression slip in an interview a week or so ago, and you could see intelligence in his eyes. He is totally sucking up to his audience of one, however, so he’s willing to repeat the foolishness.
That interview was a good example of repeating foolishness (Iran is not reprocessing plutonium, and other lies about the JCPOA) and simply refusing to answer, about 1/3 the first and 2/3 the second. Kelly was trying to pin him down, though.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17491344
Brachiator
This fool is still, for now, a part of the government. He still must be dealt with. But yeah, the press should realize that when an administration treats you as an enemy of the people, playing nice will not gain much for you.
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
He doesn’t pick exclusively men who are fatter than he is; you can name plenty of close advisers who are thinner and younger than he is. But there are a lot of old fat men around him because that’s a key demographic among high-ranking Republicans.
MagdaInBlack
@schrodingers_cat:
I think the inner rot causes them to swell up.
MomSense
@debbie:
Pompeo knows just enough to be dangerous as the old saying goes. He’s smart, did well in school, but his intelligence is cramped by his arrogance. He’s so sure he’s smarter than everyone else hat he lost his shit when his stupid gotcha quiz backfired. Every time I see him I am overwhelmed by his smugness. He oozes condescension.
germy
Brachiator
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought “Belarus” was the name of that old Michael Keaton comedy with Wynona Ryder. You had to say Belarus 3 times or something….
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: That Borat guy, he’s just another Russki troll wearing a fake mustache, in fact, I’ll bet he’s a really ugly she!
Roger Moore
@Cheryl Rofer:
I agree that he’s being smart and cagey about this issue. He has very carefully avoided saying outright that she confused Ukraine and Bangladesh, instead just implying it. That way he can counter any claims that he said it and blame everything on a lying press, fake news, etc. It’s still a lie, but not enough people are willing to call a lie by implication a lie.
OzarkHillbilly
@Brachiator: Hmmmmm. Nope. I’s never wrong about nothing!
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: The news media are, rightly, cautious about the indirect statement, but I have seen a great many people on my Twitter feed calling it out.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
“Know thyself.” — Some religious statement somewhere.
DivF
@schrodingers_cat:
jimmiraybob
I’m going to do the responsible thing and speculate that he couldn’t find either one on a map…..marked or unmarked.
And wouldn’t be fun to see reporters lugging around unlabelled maps and pulling one out whenever asking Trump or T-Minion a question and asking them to identify various countries of interest. Could be a learning moment.
schrodingers_cat
@MagdaInBlack: I think it must be all the stress eating and drinking.
Ella in New Mexico
@Cheryl Rofer: It was deleted? Interesting. Doesn’t seem to be in character for Pompeo to have regrets…
Wouldn’t it be rich if is was a staffer–not Pompeo–who posted this as a message to him?
debbie
@DivF:
I had to Google, but damn if Shakespeare doesn’t come through again!
Brachiator
@MomSense:
This also applies to Trump administration officials who are dumb and didn’t do well in school. Their stupidity is augmented by their arrogance.
Betty Cracker
Perversely, the fact that Pompeo is seething with rage and lashing out is probably a good sign. He’s an evil crackpot but not stupid. Could be he’s angry because he knows full well that no matter what the Senate does, Trump’s corrupt subversion of foreign policy for personal gain will keep spilling out, and Ukraine is just one episode. Pompeo, who is super ambitious, hitched his wagon to an incompetent, venal nincompoop, and he’s starting to realize it will be his ruin.
Mary G
Pompeo is evil.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodingers_cat: he also mocks fat people: Chris Christie, Sean Spicer, that guy who stole a protestor’s sign and trump thought he was the protester….. I think Pompeo’s bulk and attitude make him look enough like a tough guy to appease trump, and he’s figured out that Bill Barr is smart, ruthless and unethical enough to be the Roy Cohn he needs
LarrytheRed
@Cheryl Rofer:
Don’t these people have any self awareness? The bible thumper doth prtesteth too much.
Kathleen
@OzarkHillbilly: Excuse me but that would be a big land whale.
On another note, so sorry for all you’ve been dealing with. {{{OzarkHillbilly}}}
West of the Rockies
@Another Scott:
Pompeo–that piggy-faced, corrupt criminal–deserves humiliation and failure. From voters, from society, from the business and academic worlds, and if he is indeed abusive to his family, from them.
Kathleen
@mad citizen: I reported that on Twitter.
Cheryl Rofer
@Betty Cracker: I think that’s right. I would add that he’s smart enough to know that he’s peddling lies and that Kelly saw through them, which was the immediate trigger for his wrath.
He also seems to have an anger management problem. Might be the reason he left the army after five years and only made captain.
Kathleen
@MagdaInBlack: All that toxic hate and denial.
ewrunning
@Cheryl Rofer: Pompeo is truly an example of fine Christian leadership, flinging f-bombs and lies and screaming at reporters. I was also impressed with NPR’s response, but then they aired another “reporter on safari in Trump world” story this morning, recorded in Idaho, no less. The breaking news is that Trump supporters still support Trump!
Omnes Omnibus
He may be smart, but he is more ambitious. His ambition seems to have outrun his brains, and, with any luck, that will bring him down. The funny thing is, if he had any conscience at all, he wouldn’t be in this situation.
Amir Khalid
A little football news.
Manchester United, the laughingstock of the English Premier League, have a 0-6 away lead in a match on Merseyside. Never mind that it’s the FA Cup, not the League; that the Merseyside opponents are Tranmere Rovers from two tiers below in League 1, not Liverpool. A big lead is still a big lead.
Liverpool themselves have the last FA Cup match of the day, at another League 1 side, Shrewsbury Town. Liverpool are again fielding a team of mostly kids and second-stringers, much like the one that beat Everton in the previous round.
ETA Liverpool and Shrewsbury Town last played in 1996, in this round of this same tournament, at Shrewsbury’s then home ground. Liverpool won that one 0-4.
jimmiraybob
They, republicans and democrats alike, are still trying to get the ship of state off the rocky shore onto which the Brownback “revolution’ crashed it. I doubt that he is ruling on anything.
Good luck Kansas.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: I so hope you are right.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: Are you sure this is a good look for you?
artem1s
@Betty Cracker:
Too venal to keep away from the Trumptanic, but not so dumb he doesn’t see the iceberg on the horizon and he knows the asshole in the bridge is going to steer right into it.
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
I stand by every word.
West of the Rockies
@Betty Cracker:
The fact that Piggy Pompeo hitched his grubby little wagon with failing wheels to the Trump train suggests he is not as bright as he supposes himself to be.
Pompeo
Chittering monkey
climbs a tree.
Thinks himself tall.
(Shout out to The Last Airbender)
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Lot of fatheads, too.
gene108
I assume the Koch Foundation money, and other conservative funders, probably comes with some unwritten rules about how far they can push their reporting to be overly critical of Republicans.
zhena gogolia
I always miss the relevant threads. Reposting from another thread where it was irrelevant. This video is hilarious.
zhena gogolia
Why am I in moderation? The same thing happened this morning.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: You know what you did.
marklar
We are all blasphemers…Pompeo just doing what his God tells him to do.
“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence”. 1 Timothy 2:12
zhena gogolia
Okay, I’ll try it as a link.
sdhays
@jimmiraybob: This reminds me of the 2016 campaign. Reporters are always trying to make Presidential candidates look stupid by asking them stupid questions like “who’s the President of Uzbekistan and what did he get for his 54th birthday?” But not Dump. They would ask him about Brexit, and though he clearly didn’t even know what that was until he was asked, they treated him like a serious person who was informed.
Yes, he was mocked. But not the way a regular politician would have been.
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep. Pompeo isn’t the first smart wingnut to learn to his cost that he can’t control the idiot Trump. My fondest wish is that the Trump administration collapses in a heap of scandal and incompetence and takes the careers of a generation of our very worst wingnuts with it.
Brachiator
@marklar:
And yet, there are hints of historical evidence that women had some key roles in the early Christian church. In any event, this kid of crap is one of the many, many reasons that religion never appealed to me.
It is also absurd, but predictable, that any of this nonsense should flow into the political or public sphere.
Roger Moore
@West of the Rockies:
Either that or he has some reason to think his chances aren’t as good as other people think they are.
zhena gogolia
@sdhays:
I remember it from the 2000 campaign. A reporter asked GWB who was the leader of Pakistan (much in the news at that time). His answer was “General . . . uh, General General.”
He was mercilessly mocked, but we all know what happened then.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sdhays:
One of the things that interests me about trump is the way he uses vagueness. What’s Brexit? Well, it’s very important, a very important thing, that we’re going to be looking at very strongly, and in a couple of weeks, we’ll see what happens. Do you have an opinion on Frederick Douglas? Well he’s someone very interesting, who a lot of people are talking about, very strongly. Why exactly is Adam Schiff corrupt? Well, there’s a some terrible things he’s doing, terrible things. A lot of people tell me, very smart lawyers say very strongly that he’s doing some terrible things that people are going to be finding out about very soon.
Amir Khalid
18-year-old Curtis Jones, scorer of the Liverpool goal that dispatched Everton’s senior team in the third round, scores again to give Liverpool the lead at Shrewsbury Town.
debbie
A RWNJ high school classmate is imploring me to read something Tim Allen wrote which she is sure will assuage my Trump hate. As if.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: god help me, I’m a bit curious
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
That’s just it: Trump skips along from mistake to mistake, scandal to scandal, because the Republicans will never rein him in or criticize him, and Fox News and right wing media will continue to lie in his favor.
And this is absolutely Orwellian in that the GOP has renounced everything that they supposedly stand for, and blandly insist that whatever Trump does is the right and conservative thing to do.
And of course, Trump’s base is totally on board.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: I just dropped a HS friend who had been pushing Joe Rogan clips. I wasn’t particularly familiar with Rogan because talk radio type things aren’t really my bag, but since the Bernie thing I am now aware. The final straw was the recommendation of Rogan’s interview with Bari Weiss.
mrmoshpotato
Bigger fish to fry. If it were illegal or impeachable or automatically disqualifying to be president of you’re an asshole, well…
ThresherK
As always, Jay Rosen adds value to the convo.
I hope NPR doesn’t coast on being on the proper side of this dustup.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You really are foolish. ?
Kay
My youngest is canvassing for Bernie next Friday. Interesting that they’re up and running for the Ohio primary, even out to the boonies where I am.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: Much like the fact that markets can stay irrational longer than one can stay solvent. The real world will catch up to them, and that day is getting closer. Let’s just hope it doesn’t bring the rest of down too and that November marks the beginning of the long trek back to sanity.
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus:
Haha! Why not a Rogan interview with Busted Glass and Burlap?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus:
Someone retweeted Weiss saying that the fact that no one knew who Rogan was is a sign of the MSM’s cluelessness about Real America (edited)– she’s a frequent guest on his podcast, apparently. Maybe there’s some truth to that– I’m still trying to figure out why the hell Andrew Yang is a thing, or even Bernie. So I guess I am in a bubble.
The replies to Weiss’s tweet had a lot of people whining about how you lose your right to free speech just for asking questions, which I gather is Rogan’s shtick: “Is it racist just to ask…”
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Of course, this is vagueness combined with woeful ignorance.
But I see your point. Good stuff. There is a consistent pattern to some of Trump’s vague patter.
There is the false appeal to authority (very smart lawyers say) and the hint that Trump has uncovered some dark corruption (terrible things soon to be uncovered).
And Trump is always the hero in his fabulations.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Unless Tim Allen was writing in character as Buzz Lightyear, I don’t think I’d be very interested myself.
ThresherK
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve only read bits of excerpts from Rogan’s interviews. I’ll pass on them all.
Compared to a Joy Reid, who is making all the proper enemies, Rogan appears to be largely making all the worst friends. I can’t imagine him saying something to Weiss to get her to storm off in a huff, or even a minute and a huff.
Barbara
I find it difficult to gnaw at the details of our traitor in chief and his cowardly sycophants who have been bought and paid for, whether by Putin or someone else.
I have been listening to podcasts on the Roman Empire and reading books recommended by some of the podcasters (is that a word?) Anyway, I came across a quote in one of those books that struck me as particularly apropos regarding one of the awful early emperors, Domitian:
The Senate Republicans and most of Trump’s White House staff and senior political appointees are a funereal community of sycophants.
OzarkHillbilly
I would hesitate to say just how smart or stupid anyone in the trump admin is, but they all have a blind spot called ambition. Each and every one of them thinks they can ride this train to the heights but will get off before it jumps the tracks. So far not a one of them has escaped unscathed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT: This is good. The Seven Deadly Sins.
topclimber
Pompeo gets lots of mileage from being first in his class at West Point. It is worth noting that for the 100 years preceding him, the top grad failed to rise to a higher rank than captain five times (one KIA). Pompeo is number 6. Maybe that explains why he never learned the fundamental lesson about protecting the “troops” under his command– much less State Department employees.
It also speaks to an inability to work within an organization for long enough to get anything done. Army 5 years, Congress 6, CIA for less than two years, SOS not quite two years so far. Think he will make it to three?
If the hyperlink bombs check out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Military_Academy_top-ranking_graduates
Patricia Kayden
Can someone tell me why my payment for the pet calendar was refunded? Thanks in advance.
Barbara
@OzarkHillbilly: Nikki Haley is exhibit A in the ambition category, but I wouldn’t call her stupid.
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yep. Good point. Totally agree.
Even in his “successful” business career, Trump careened from disaster to disaster, failure to failure, but still managed to come out looking like the self-annointed master businessman. He’s applying the same tricks to his presidency.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Barbara: I think Haley and Christie are exhibits A and B in people who think they can just be a little bit trumpist. Close enough to stay in his favor/avoid the wrath of Himself and his rabid fans but far enough away to claim innocence in whatever unfolds, maintaining credibility with the both the media and the trump base.
Jay Noble
@Cheryl Rofer: 1st in his class and out at the earliest opportunity. Only 2 promotions. While graduating 1st he was not First Captain – top cadet in the command structure.
And ugh for poor John C. “From 1986 to 1991, Pompeo served in the U.S. Army as an armor officer with the West Germany-based 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division. He served as a tank platoon leader before becoming a cavalry troop executive officer and then the squadron maintenance officer. Pompeo left the U.S. Army at the rank of captain.”
Reading the Wikipedia bio I was left scrathin’ my noggi trying to see what the heck qualified him to be Cia Director or Secratry of State. Eek!
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Because you asked. It’s FB, so there isn’t a link to an outside place.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay Noble: Hehe, Cole would be a better Secretary of State.
Mandalay
@MomSense:
Or perhaps it’s his insecurity, because he knows the position is way beyond his abilities, and that gets manifested as anger and bluster?
Being intelligent is only part of what is needed for Pompeo’s job. This generic criticism of him is especially scathing:
The plain truth is that he’s just not good enough to do the job, and the media keep giving him a pass.
Jeffro
@mad citizen: that’s the one!
the WaPo article about it does a pretty good job, but naturally when asked about right wing violence, a GOP Senator noted that ‘Steve Scalise got shot by a lefty’ and so therefore nothing to see here, folks.
its exactly the same bs my RWNJ bro tried to foist on me last week. Scalise is their all purpose excuse
SiubhanDuinne
@Patricia Kayden:
https://balloon-juice.com/2020/01/25/pets-of-balloon-juice-2020-calendar/
Brachiator
@Kay:
I noted in an earlier thread that two older Sanders supporters came to my door yesterday. One of them had a smartphone app that identified me by name and party registration.
I asked them why they liked Bernie and they talked about health care and free college. They also emphasized the importance of beating Trump, which was one theme with which I could totally agree.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: my god. I guess if you’re already nuts, that’s persuasive
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Comments can have 7 links, and there are more than 7 links, the comment goes into moderation.
debbie
@Brachiator:
Don’t forget that as Trump careened about from bankruptcy to bankruptcy, thousands (at least) people didn’t either get paid or only got partially paid for the work they did for him. Some champion of the common man.
Jeffro
@marklar: speaking of blasphemy, how ‘bout that crazy WH high priestess Paula White calling for god to abort all “satanic pregnancies “
Kuh
Ray
Zee
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’re smarter than I.
Cameron
Belarus? Bangladesh? I’m surprised he didn’t go the whole shot with “Oz” or “Wakanda.” It’s not like he’d know whether they were real or not.
Gin & Tonic
Folks, he didn’t say Bangladesh instead of Belarus, he wrote it. It was part of the State Department’s official statement, on letterhead with Department seal. It wasn’t a case of “mis-spoke.”
Immanentize
@Brachiator:
I prefer meathead. It suggests sinewy denseness.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Mandalay
@debbie:
An interesting claim, but I can’t find any independent links which support or refute that.
Either way, I give her points for even having town hall meetings. Lil’ Marco stopped doing them completely, because he found that people weren’t civil.
Brachiator
@debbie:
Works for me.
What an odd collection of junk and lies. But it may give an idea of right wing “concerns.”
One common theme, which I kinda understand, is fear of “socialism” because they think it would sink the economy.
The “evil’ and “moral rot” BS doesn’t matter to me at all.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
And the rest of the press/media treats the whole thing as normal politics, only more entertaining.
And let’s never forget the ~41.5% of Americans who are ruled by their greed or bigotry.
randy khan
@zhena gogolia:
That was excellent. Thanks for reposting it.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Why does that remind me of Kenya pissing on Norway in the Weebles song,
KENYA?
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As non-serious, you ASSHOLE!
delk
I think ‘smart’ people hitch their wagons to Trump because they look at his children and think, ‘If those incredibly stupid people can get this far, I can certainly do better’.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
A grab-bag of RW talking points. I would definitely have been more interested in what Buzz Lightyear had to say — about anything.
Jay Noble
@topclimber: What’s being ignored is that while he was 1st in his class, he was not First Captain – 1st in the Command Structure.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The chief diplomat of the United States of America, our representative around the world
project, project, project, project, project
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Nikki Haley benefits from the same thing as Ivanka Trump: the press/media and large percentage of Americans simply refuse to believe that an attractive woman can be evil.
Brachiator
@debbie:
Trump is still pulling the same stunt as president. From a recent NPR Marketplace podcast:
Amir Khalid
An embarrassing own goal by Shrewsbury Town defender Donald Love gifts Liverpool a 0-2 lead in their fourth round FA Cup tie.
cain
@Brachiator:
No no, it’s some star out in space.. heard it on Star Trek once.
Kay
@Brachiator:
Thanks. I love the local info.
Jay
@ThresherK:
there is Rogan, Peterson, Molneux(sp) and others. Edgelords on youtube and podcasts working their stichk, who are “popular” with certain subsets, of subsets of the population, ( not all Americans, it is the internet).
They get “held up” as exemplars of “xxxxxx” when convenient by specific grifters, based on their “views”, (intertubes stats). While their stats look impressive, compared to Old Media, it’s not comperable. Faux News eyeballs are real human eyeballs, mostly in the US. Not all internet “clicks” are human, and not all human clicks result in a watch or listen.
Claiming that because someone doesn’t know racist, transphobe, mysogenist, manosphere Joe Rogan, one isn’t in touch with “the real America”, makes less sense than claiming that because one does not follow “The 24 Hours of Lemons”*, one is not in touch with the “Real America”.*
It’s a typical Conservative “gotcha”.
*24 Hours of Lemons is a road race series, held across America, based mostly on the SCCA rules, with a few of their own, such as it is a 2 x 8 hour, or 24 hour, endurance race, for $500 “beater” cars only. Fun is the goal, not so much winning.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Haha. In passing I saw ‘Tim Allen’, ‘evil’ and ‘Pass this on.’
Oh noes, seven years of bad luck if you don’t send this to 7 people in the next 7 seconds?!
Good to see stupid chain letters live on.
James E Powell
@debbie:
He either forgot to mention that black & brown will take over the country or he knows he doesn’t need to say it in writing.
This is a summary of the political thought of the majority of white Americans for the last thirty years. It’s why the Republicans can crush them with their economic policies and still get their votes. It’s why it’s ridiculous for Sanders or anyone else to argue that Democrats need to reach out to them or understand their grievances.
joel hanes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Is it racist just to ask
Sea lions always wondering
Barbara
@debbie: “So, basically, he doesn’t have any more brains than the cartoon character he plays. Maybe that’s why most of what he says in public is written by other people.”
artem1s
@gene108:
reportedly (PND Philanthropy News Digest), the Koch kids and grandkids aren’t all that keen on the Grandpas blowing the inheritance on political crap. Charles’ doesn’t have a say anymore and David (I think) was never as keen about the Heritage Fdn crap as his brother was. There is going to be a big hole in the conservative money bag and the GOP has been in full panic about how to replace it as it dries up. NPR was not endowed by the Kochs so they are probably looking for their next sugar daddy and it’s far more likely to come from some Soro’s Pledge money than the NeoCons, TeaParty, or Liberty University grifters.
joel hanes
@debbie:
I’m sorry I read that.
Until this moment, I had no particular dislike for Tim Allen, and have enjoyed some of his work.
Jay
Amir Khalid
Shrewsbury get a penalty after Liverpool youth defender Yasser Larouci brings down an attacker. Routine conversion. Shrewsbury 1-2 Liverpool.
debbie
@joel hanes:
I saw him somewhere badmouthing Obama during his administration. That did it for me.
Brachiator
@artem1s:
There’s such a thing as Philanthropy News Digest?
debbie
I just realized that a couple of times today, when NPR reports about Saturdays’ impeachment hearing, they say the attorneys are arguing against explicit quid pro quo. I don’t remember hearing “explicit” before and am wondering if we’re headed into Dershowitz-level parsing territory.
Ksmiami
@Roger Moore: praying for plenty of myocardial infarctions all around
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: Well, we all now know who isn’t very philanthropic. :)
Amir Khalid
Shrewsbury equalise with a long ball from the keeper that catches out Liverpool’s high line and a low shot that squirms under keeper Adrián. 2-2.
ETA: Mo Salah comes on for Joel Matip.
Amir Khalid
It finishes 2-2. Replay at Anfield next week.
Another Scott
@artem1s:
NPR got a bunch of cash in an endowment from Joan B. Kroc (of the McDonald’s fortune), but the NPR foundation only provides about 5% of their annual budget.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Patricia Kayden: You are apparently in good company!
Information here:
https://balloon-juice.com/2020/01/26/cafe-press-balloon-juice-calendar-hiccup-temporarily/
J R in WV
@Mandalay:
Congresswoman and committee chair Maxine Waters has had many death threats, probably way too many to even keep track of the current total number.
Maybe, just maybe, those death threats were made known to federal law enforcement, and they require the Photo ID in order to keep out the people they are aware of who have sent those death threats to Maxine, whom I admire for her courage.
In my book she is right there beside Dr. King, who we should recall was murdered by a hired killer. Both brave fighters for freedom.
Most of those bits by Tim Allen (whoever that is?) are either fabrications, aka lies, or wilful distortions of almost true events. He must be a RWNJ ass, so I’m glad I don’t even know who he is.
ETA: The right to vote has nothing to do with good security for someone receiving death threats, for just one massive distortion in that list of fabrications.
dww44
@joel hanes: I read that and Tim Allen has been who he is for a long time. The kind of conservative who cannot overlook an opportunity to take his digs at the libs. Seriously, I’ve watched a bit of the current situation comedy of his and his arrogance and contempt for liberals is always just a throw away line on the ready. I’ve absolutely NO USE for him, notwithstanding his work in the Toy Story movies.
Honestly I lose regard for any artist whose politics are front and center in his/her work. Notably in my area there’s Steve Penley, illustrator and painter of murals and such for Coca Cola, Chick-fil-A, and painter of portraits of his favorite Presidents, Reagan and Trump. He’s adored by conservatives and thanks to their patronage he makes a pretty darn good living, being the avowed capitalist that he is.
germy
Not surprising at all.
LongHairedWeirdo
Story is, the reporter was asked to come *without recording* – seems an aide didn’t know the difference between “don’t record” and “off the record”.
It’s worth noting that “off the record” is a courtesy; free speech/press means once someone tells you something, you can report it. If a journalist agreed a conversation was off the record, then it’s a horrible thing to reveal it without fighting tooth an nail (eta: against all efforts to get you to reveal it); but if you haven’t *specified* “off the record” and gotten agreement from the reporter, you’re a dumbass for complaining later if it’s reported.
He had an aide make the request – he didn’t hear the agreement. Ergo, Pompeo’s a dumbass.
marklar
@Jeffro: “speaking of blasphemy, how ‘bout that crazy WH high priestess Paula White calling for god to abort all “satanic pregnancies “
Oy Gevalt! I wonder how this will play with the Right to Life marchers?