If you watched the ads last night, you saw a couple that I thought needed a little more context.
The first one was a Verizon ad, where Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn talked to some of the first responders who helped save his life after a terrible accident. Coach Lynn seems appropriately grateful and I have nothing but respect for all the people who helped save his life, so it’s nice of Verizon to highlight them. But let’s not forget that part of the reason Verizon is running this ad is that Verizon throttled firefighters in California in late Summer 2018.
The other ad is for Mexican Avocados. In the past couple weeks in the state of Michoacán, two workers at a monarch butterfly preserve have been murdered:
Officials in the state of Michoacán said they were unsure if the two deaths were linked – or related to the men’s work in the butterfly reserve. The state has seen a rising tide of violence in recent years, and the region around the monarch butterfly reserve has been rife with illegal logging, despite a ban imposed to protect the monarchs, which winter in the pine- and fir-covered hills.
Some illegal clearcutting is also carried out to allow for the planting of avocado orchards – one of Mexico’s most lucrative crops and an important part of Michoacán’s economy.
The deaths again called attention to the disturbing trend in Mexico of environmental defenders being killed as they come into conflict with developers or local crime groups, who often have political and police protection.
That last story really bugged me. What kind of animal kills people trying to preserve butterflies?
Open thread for the impeachment trial avoiders.
lee
Verizon started running ads similar to this as soon as the story broke.
They know exactly how bad it looks.
Eural Joiner
Anyone got any more info on the crossover ad featuring a) Let it Go from Disney, b) Maise Williams from GoT/HBO and c) an Audi? It seemed like a lot of properties sharing screen time and I was wondering if there was something more to it?
Emerald
Actually the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX, right on the border, has been fighting the border wall for years now. They were specifically declared safe in an actual Act of Congress, but then Orangymandius appropriated his money from the military anyway. A private wingnut group is trying to build a private wall almost next to their property, which, if completed, will destroy the entire ecosystem for miles around, including the butterfly center. There are court rulings, but the latest ruling is hidden. So far the butterfly center has won everything, but wingnut judges are in the area, so no telling how they’re ruling.
In the past, local officials have gone onto the butterfly center’s property and started clearing plants. The center got court orders to stop it, but these animals enjoy defying those.
So yeah, butterflies are under attack here too. And the National Butterfly Center is a major stopover for migrating monarchs and other butterflies (and is also a bird preserve).
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@Emerald: That’s awful. Thanks for sharing it.
@lee: One of the things I hope our nominee does is put some horns and tails on big oligopolies like the cable and cell phone companies. Correction: point out the horns and tails on those companies. That’s the kind of “populism” that hits on a real issue in most people’s lives – being reamed for cell and cable service.
Brachiator
@Emerald:
Very enlightening context to the story. Thank you.
laura
Profits over people. Same as it ever was.
misterpuff
And Facebook with all its lovely affinity groups that might never have assembled but for FB. Of course, that does not make up for the destabilizing influence as a conduit for propaganda and the unwillingness to police the lies.
Brachiator
@misterpuff:
This is a function of the Internet, not FaceBook. There were affinity groups in the ancient days under Compuserve and other online services.
brantl
Homocidal jerkoffs. Next question?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Rick Wilson is a better person than I am. I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone, but I’m not broken up about it either.
JGabriel
[email protected]:
A conscienceless real estate developer who wants the land? Wait … was Trump there?
Emerald
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
No, he’s not. Rick Wilson is the guy who ran the ad against Sen. Max Cleland in GA, a triple amputee hero from the Vietnam War, calling him a traitor.
He’s a never trumper and has some good things to say currently, but I will never give him a pass because of that despicable ad.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: He could have just wished him well without the holier-than-thou bullshit, don’t you think?
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I do not wish Rush a recovery.
I wish him a speedy end, with excellent palliative care. (And take Murdoch and Hannity with him.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Gin & Tonic:
Apparently he’s had people harassing him on twitter for the last few weeks, among other things wishing cancer on him and his family. It’s made him touchy on the topic.
The Limbaugh thing appears to be true though. I see Cole tweeted fuck Limbaugh, do Hannity next. I laughed.
Suzanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I told SuzMom that I wish Rush a long life, sustained by the finest socialized healthcare in the world.
joel hanes
What kind of animal kills people trying to preserve butterflies?
I believe that the answer in this case is: someone who intends to illegally log the mature trees on which the Monarchs congregate. These murders were a warning to anyone else who might tend to get in the way.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ll say this for Rush Limbaugh III, there is no Rush Limbaugh IV
Suzanne
Don’t forget how Dampnut is destroying organ pipe and saguaro….
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Small mercies.
joel hanes
@Brachiator:
There were affinity groups in the ancient days under Compuserve and other online services.
Usenet rec.arts.books was a particularly lovely one in its heyday. I still miss that forum, and the amazing stable of contributors. It was there that Mike Godwin formulated Godwin’s Law.
JPL
Remember when everyone was on twitter wishing erick erickson well with his and his wife’s recent diagnosis. Once he felt better he went back to f..king the dems. I don’t wish ill on anyone, but I don’t need to say something else besides that
burnspbesq
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
The butterfly sanctuary’s problems are a highly visible example of the horrors of Trump’s Fiasco in the Rio Grand Valley, but they aren’t an isolated example. The government is issuing notices of taking to landowners all up and down the valley, grabbing properties that in some cases have been in families for 150 years at obscenely low values. In some places large tracts of productive farmland are ending up on the wrong side of the wall.
If I’m feeling better later in the year, and can get admitted to the Texas bar without having to take the exam, I may volunteer to do some pro bono defense work.
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq: The pro bono would be great. Hope you feel better, and are able to do it.
WhatsMyNym
At least journalists in the UK are still ready to stand up to (walk out on) the Tories…
Brachiator
@joel hanes:
Yes! Usenet. That’s the term I was trying to remember. I was more Compuserve and Prodigy generation, but I had heard about Usenet.
Cool bit of info about Mike Godwin.
joel hanes
@Elizabelle:
I do not wish Rush a recovery.
Oh, I do. I think the kind of recovery I wish for him is known as “to the pain”.
(Limbaugh’s radio show poisoned my father’s mind for five years or so back in the 90s, and it took years for Dad to regain his bearings.)
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@burnspbesq: Do they still have the rule of law there?
Hope you feel well enough to give it a shot.
Brachiator
@WhatsMyNym:
Damn. Talk about mimicking Trump.
But in another way, consistent with Johnson’s past actions. He acts like the bullying elitist school boy that he is.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Brachiator:
At least the UK journalists stood up for their colleague, unlike the US ones who did nothing when NPR was banned from the WH trip
pamelabrown53
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
I really think you should delete the “not” in your nym. It reeks of assholiness to all the hardworking Texans committed to turning this state blue.
WaterGirl
@pamelabrown53: I am not understanding your comment. What am I missing?
Elizabelle
@joel hanes: Ah, so your dad made it out of Rush’s clutches?
How did that happen? Happy to hear he regained his bearings (ie. decency).
WaterGirl
OT, but checking in on the active threads to ask for confirmation that (hopefully) the evil ads are gone.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Thinking it’s snarking about whether Texas still has rule of law?
FWIW, MM has been advised to drop the “not” multiple times in his morning thread.
pamelabrown53
@WaterGirl:
His reply to burnspesq about hoping to qualify to do pro bono work in Texas. He asked if we “still had the rule of law here”?!
Struck me as incredibly condescending and elitist: in other words an “asshole”.
Maybe I’m just in a piss poor mood today and should refrain from commenting. ;-)
Ohio Mom
Lung cancer is not an area of particular expertise for me (my speciality is breast cancer) but I am under the impression one does not get cured of advanced lung cancer.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: @pamelabrown53: I had missed the Texas reference, and the morning thread is the one thread I haven’t read today. Of course!
Dan B
@WaterGirl: The top ad that covered refresh on mobile is gone! Thanks so much. It was possible to minimize but had to be done eveytime I read comments or looked at a new post – many times a day.
Mnemosyne
Lung cancer is what my older brother died from, so I literally would not wish it on my worst enemy. It’s a really, really hard way to go.
I will also say that the odds of recovering from advanced lung cancer are … not good, and depend a whole lot more on one’s individual body chemistry and how it responds to treatment than anything else. Limbaugh should probably make sure that his will is in order.
WaterGirl
@Dan B: Yay! Thanks for letting me know.
Josie
@pamelabrown53:
Not only elitist and condescending, but ignorant and uninformed as well. Not surprising.
ETA: Please continue to comment. You are always on target.
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
IIRC from my Google searches after my brother was diagnosed, the best you can do after stage III starts is to find a chemotherapy regimen that will slow or stop its growth. There’s really no way to reverse it or send it into remission, no matter how much money you have.
Betty Cracker
Just piping up in support of Mistermix. I don’t agree with every single thing he says, but he’s a good and thoughtful guy, and I appreciate his posts and comments. It’s disturbing to see other good and thoughtful people reflexively slag Mistermix for saying things that would go completely unremarked if someone else said them. Sign of the times, I guess. It’s depressing.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
He also sometimes goes out of his way to be a dick and then gets whiny when people call him out on it. If he could learn to say okay, my bad, that was over the line, people would cut him more slack.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: What Mnemo said.
@Betty Cracker: With this morning’s post, you could see the thoughtful side. Went astray in the comments, and a little humility is a good thing. Better to apologize than double down, particularly on matters of decency.
I skimmed BJ from time to time when internet was available, and it really seemed MM was trolling his own blog in recent weeks. Clickbait central.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: That’s what I call giving someone the “negative benefit of the doubt”.
It’s human nature, but it’s neither fair nor fun when you are on the receiving end of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Elizabelle:
yup
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I’ve never heard that expression before, but sure seems apt in this case.
@Elizabelle: & @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trolling the blog how? I honestly don’t see it.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Can’t do it right now, but that might be something for me to answer via email. I saw a few examples while traveling.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I made it up long ago, and have been using it for years. It’s totally available for stealing.
Skepticat
I don’t wish cancer on anyone, but this does rather support the position of friends who insist that being a negative, evil person can cause it. Karma’s a bitch.
Ascap_scab
My mom told me, “if you don’t have anything good to say about someone, then say nothing at all”.
You tell me Rush Limbaugh has lung cancer. I say good.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: On second thought, never mind. I’ll just disagree and leave it at that.
Yutsano
@Betty Cracker: Just channel our long lost and still beloved Angry Black Lady:
“We can agree to disagree, but I’m right.”
Ohio Mom
Skepticat @ 52: Some people like to blame cancer patients for their illness but it’s only bad luck. Vegans, athletes and saints can all get cancer. Please tell your friends enough with the victim-blaming, it’s cruel and unfounded.
Now how someone deals with a life threatening illness, THAT reflects that persin’s character. I don’t expect Limbaugh to be anything but a miserable asshole, multiplied many times, during his last days.
Skepticat
@Ohio Mom: I agree completely with you, but I was being flip without meaning to impute blame. Though I must admit I can’t help thinking of the comments when someone like this is stricken. Incidentally, one of those “friends” was hinting that I might not have developed cancer if I weren’t an atheist.
BRyan
@Betty Cracker: lurking for years, I comment VERY occasionally when I’m struggling with issues/opinions and hoping for input from others that might help clarify my thinking. posted yesterday, and MM was the first to pop back, with a comment that I read as sarcastic and snide (“class-A trolling” I believe was mentioned). Fortunately others (including you, IIRC) responded more appropriately, which I appreciated, but his comment did reinforce my existing-and-gathering-strength perception that, if the circle of BJ commenters is dwindling (seems to me it is), it’s no wonder.