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T R E 4 5 O N

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Evening Open Thread: Good News, Probably

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Good News, Probably

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As I understand it, there’s already a paywalled version, Politico Pro, for the ‘policy pros’ who can write off the real deep-dive insider legislative phart-sniffing as a business expense. I’m just not sure there’s a viable market space for another subscription-driven competitor to the New York Times and the Washington Post — especially since those two offer recipes and crosswords to go with the political commentary.

In my ideal world, Axel Springer would take the advice of their current employees (Tara Palmieri, looking at you) and hire all the most flagrant media mean girls and professional trolls (Annie Linsky, Ken Vogel, etc.) before flaming out and leaving the whole crew abandoned on a desert island…

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I haven’t read it in a while, but Politico Pro was the only game in town for comprehensive information about what was going on across the federal government. Not as click-baity as the regular politico

  2. 2.

    Mike in NC

    Speaking of supermarket tabloids, I was checking out today and spotted the latest National Enquirer, with the front page article “Why COVID Shots Don’t Work”. What else to expect from a piece of trash put out by the Orange Turd’s buddy David Pecker?

  8. 8.

    West of the Rockies

    @Mike in NC:

    Readers of the National Enquirer are low-info, gossip-hungry, gullible wingnuts.  I feel a little sympathy for them:  they’re being exploited and endangered by the “news” sources they’re too ignorant to quit.

  9. 9.

    Kropacetic

    @debbie: It raised the question for me whether it’s normal behavior for an elephant to trample its food first.

    Update: Given their diet, doesn’t seem remotely likely.

  10. 10.

    Ken

    @Kropacetic: Recently I saw this video of elephants eating pumpkins. As you can see, they were smashing them first, though out of necessity since these were giant prize-winners, knee-high to the elephant.

  11. 11.

    Raven

    Absolutely beautiful day for football as the number one Dawgs roll Kentucky. I didn’t know home much I missed being there.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    @Ken: It was a previous thread here, yesterday.  :-)

    Meanwhile, …

    Arrived in the UK today from Switzerland. Very, very freaked out.

    Every station you travel away from Heathrow the masked level in the train drops by 20%.

    Been in the country for going on 10 hours, multiple restaurants and bars, yet to be asked for my vaccine certificate. Why? https://t.co/rJAYDiPcVf

    — Dmitry Grozoubinski (@DmitryOpines) October 15, 2021

    Who among us hasn’t been shocked, shocked, when they go restaurant and bar hopping during a respiratory pandemic??

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    (via dsquareddigest)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    Kropacetic

    @Ken: Good catch. I wasn’t thinking of such heavy-duty fruit.

    we also get daily elephant feeding videos?

    See? Now we’ll be expecting them.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: It was a previous thread here, yesterday.  :-)

    Oh, cool. So in addition to the promised return of Find Mister Frog™, we also get daily elephant feeding videos?

  15. 15.

    Ascap_scab

    I wonder why some Silly-con Valley VC hasn’t come up with a ‘Spotify’ for news papers.

    I occasionally would like to read an article from the NYT, WP or WSJ, but I don’t want to buy a $50-100 year subscription for each. If there were some service where I paid them $x and they then sent the NYT 10 cents for every article I read we could all be happy.

  16. 16.

    sab

    @Raven: I watched a bit of the game quietly because my husband was rooting for Ky for some obscure reason. Did Ga crush Akron U ever?

  19. 19.

    raven

    @sab: Not since I’ve been here for 37 years. He may have just been pulling for anyone but #1.

    eta I checked, they have never played.

  20. 20.

    JMG

    @Ascap_scab: Back in the print days, you could buy a paper for a nominal sum and read all that day’s articles. Why is it impossible in the digital age to allow you to buy a one-day access pass to a website for like a dollar or even two?

  24. 24.

    Urza

    @Ascap_scab:  Makes too much sense. And if they really were willing to do that it would have been a thing when all the papers realized online advertising wasn’t enough to support themselves and they went behind paywalls. No, at this point its more like the Streaming services. Each one sees Netflix and Disney+ doing well, so they want to try it themselves. But most of them barely have enough content to cover the free month, and just hope people forget to cancel.

  28. 28.

    Ken

    @JMG: Why is it impossible in the digital age to allow you to buy a one-day access pass to a website for like a dollar or even two?

    blah blah blah synergistic blah blah levered blah blah storyscaping blah blah algorithmic blah blah contextual blah blah hyperlocal blah blah…

  32. 32.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Raven: who were those young people in the front row wearing black suits and red shirts?  College Republicans?  Visiting dignitaries?

  33. 33.

    Sure Lurkalot

    How did we get a world where communication and information is funded and monetized by advertising? It’s totally perverse.

  34. 34.

    Ramalama

    This movie trailer for a film called Rebel Hearts is so good it put me in a mood: Rebel nuns putting their bodies on the line. With Rufus Wainwright in the soundtrack. USC film school produced it or something with it and are showing it on a ‘webinar’ tomorrow night. Open to the public but you got to sign up for it. For those of you who grew up talking about Vatican II, and guitar masses, and nuns on busses, that is. Here’s the sign up link to view the movie: http://cinema.usc.edu/RebelHeartsRSVP

    I have lucked out with mostly good clergy teaching me, though nothing could be done with me later as an a-dult. But I understand anyone who wants nothing to do with Catholicism.

  35. 35.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Benw: It is! My DH says he looks like the guy in the Liberty commercial with the Afghan dog on a park bench.

    ETA Go Braves!

  37. 37.

    Raven

    @Steve in the ATL: muggin for the camera I spose. Some dick was selling nasty Biden Harris shirts and I called him a fucking fascist but I think he was just some moron trying to make a buck.

  39. 39.

    sab

    @raven:  Maybe just  because Ky is closer. But that seems weird, since there should be a rivalry and there isn’t one.

    Maybe he just flips a coin, or picks to irritate the wife. (TBC I only rooted for Ga because you. Even that poor dawg doesn’t care.)

  40. 40.

    Gretchen

    @Another Scott: I saw on facebook a photo of a friend at “grandparent’s mass” at her grandson’s school.  Lots of old people packed into a gym with not a mask in sight.  And it’s still in the 70s here – could have easily been done inside.  Who thought this was a good idea, and why did everyone go along with it?

  42. 42.

    sab

    @Ramalama: I grew up Episcopalian, which my Catholic husband calls Catholic light, and I call Christian tolerance. Even we are not what we used to be. Money speaks more than values.

  43. 43.

    Starfish

    @Ascap_scab: Apple News gets you some of that, but the NYT and Washington Post are so big they do not have to participate. Some people have NYT access through their libraries.

  52. 52.

    sab

    My dog is meeting her oncologist on Tuesday. I am not optomistic. She is clueless. I am waiting to be devastated. God damn. I know we are all mortal, but those who have had a sucky life deserve some years of comfort. Doesn’t seem to happen with dogs. All they get is a few months of love.

  53. 53.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Mike in NC:

    I particularly like the stupid tabloid magazines that only ever have the British Royal Family on their covers. I’m sure our British commenters would positively love Us Weekly calling Kate Middleton the “People’s Princess”, because I guess she’s taking some inspiration on her fashion/hairstyle from Diana. Same issue had to take a swipe at Meghan Markle, of course

  56. 56.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Speaking of the NYT, I saw a blurb on the front page that McAufflie is having a hard time motivating voters he needs to win, that voter apathy is a problem. Is there any truth to this Virginia jackals? Or just horse race BS by NYT journos?

  58. 58.

    sab

    @sab: best dog ever. She is absolutely adorable. And my cats love her. Even the grumpy ancient cocker thinks she is a good dog.6

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    In my ideal world, Axel Springer would take the advice of their current employees (Tara Palmieri, looking at you) and hire all the most flagrant media mean girls and professional trolls (Annie Linsky, Ken Vogel, etc.) before flaming out and leaving the whole crew abandoned on a desert island…

    Hopefully the paywall makes everyone decide they won’t pay for Politico’s shit.

  69. 69.

    JoyceH

    @Gretchen: ​
     

    Charlie Pierce refers to Politico as Tiger Beat on the Potomac.

    So that made me Google, and OMG, Tiger Beat still exists! The print edition ceased a few years back, but it’s an online magazine now. Geez, I had no idea that was still around.

  71. 71.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Another Scott: The transaction costs may be what’s prevented “micropayment”-type things from taking off yet.

    I’m shocked so few know about Blendle. It’s exactly that — a legal, approved microtransaction service for paying for individual articles from a ton of the leading newspapers and mags.I pay around 20 cents for most articles, if I recall correctly; I use it sparingly (last major binge was for Ted Lasso articles) and $5 credit has lasted me a while

    It has been in beta/invite for a while, so that might be part of it — there may be something contract-wise going on preventing it from opening its doors. But yeah, if you’re looking for a way to actually pay for the articles/writing you want to support, I recommend getting on its waitlist and using it when you get access.

  72. 72.

    Barbara

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s hard to know because of the uncertainty inherent in trying to evaluate early voting data compared to last year, which was a presidential election in the middle of the pandemic.  I think that’s allowing for a lot of “interpretation” of various indicia of enthusiasm.

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Charlie Pierce nailed them with Tiger Beat on the Potomac.  Worthless garbage, as is Axios.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @West of the Rockies: ​
    Back in the 70s, I bought the National Inquirer‘s annual psychic prediction issue, and then waited a year to find out how prescient it was. As it turns out, not much. The same sort of thing was done with MSM pundits and their predictions, and chimps throwing darts had a better accurate prediction rate.

  77. 77.

    Bill Arnold

    @Another Scott:

    I haven’t yet tried it myself.

    You spotted it. Works OK (also a Firefox version). When I use it, I use a VPN and lots of ad/script/tracker blockers and do not log into google. Also install “Cookie Remover” which resets counter cookies for many sites with one click on a cookie icon. (Also annoying are all the American local news sites that don’t like European VPN endpoints because of the GDPR. (privacy rules))

  78. 78.

    CaseyL

    @Woodrow/asim: Well, now. A sincere thanks for that information; I’ve signed up.
    I do subscribe to WaPo and the Seattle Times.  But among my fond memories of college was going to Odegard Undergraduate Library.  They kept current collections of just about every newspaper and magazine in the country, possibly the world, and I could spend **hours** there, browsing and reading.​

  79. 79.

    Ascap_scab

    @Another Scott: I just checked on this. I do have Chrome installed on my Android phone, however this version does not support extensions.

    I may try this on my laptop. Thanks for the help.

  82. 82.

    CaseyL

    @Yutsano: ​
    Wouldn’t that be lovely? But I don’t know if the reading room is even still there…​
     

    ETA: It’s still there, sort of – and it’s in Suzzallo, not Odegaard, my bad. But the collections are mostly electronic now. Which makes sense, but it’s not the same at all.

  83. 83.

    sab

    @mrmoshpotato: Mast cell is another cancer that sucks. Sneaks up on them. Dog never smoked a day in her life. I never did either but my mom did.

    Mast cell. My dog never did anything bad. Never smoked. Didn’t sunbath much, and only in Northeast Ohio which doesn’t even have sun.

  85. 85.

    HumboldtBlue

    The rat bastards at Apple TV did not include episode 12, season 2 in the free weekly trial so they fucked us freeloaders on the penultimate episode of the first two series of Ted Lasso. Fuck them.

  86. 86.

    LivinginExile

    @sab: Good Luck.  Hope all turns out well.  How are your cats?  Didn’t they all have upper respiratory infections a while back?

  87. 87.

    CaseyL

    @sab: I am so sorry to hear this, and though you have reasons to suspect the worst, I am hoping the cancer is treatable and survivable.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @Ascap_scab: Yeah, Google locks down Chrome on Android.  It’s very annoying and is why I use Brave on my phone.  (I use Chrome + uBlock Origin on Winders and Mac.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @Woodrow/asim: Oooh.  I don’t think I’ve heard of that.  Thanks for the pointer.

    I signed up to Scroll to send micropayments to a few sites I visit semi-regularly (but not enough to “subscribe”) to send them some money in exchange for blocking their ads.  Shortly after I did so, Twitter bought them and sent them back into beta… :-/

    I hope something becomes a reasonably standard way to do this, but I hope it doesn’t end up being yet another monopoly that eventually follows us everywhere and tries to extract monopoly rents from us…

    “Why spend $200/yr for the digital NYTimes when you can get 500 newspapers for the low, low price of $39.95 a month??!”

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    @Woodrow/asim:

    I’m shocked so few know about Blendle. It’s exactly that — a legal, approved microtransaction service for paying for individual articles from a ton of the leading newspapers and mags.I pay around 20 cents for most articles, if I recall correctly; I use it sparingly (last major binge was for Ted Lasso articles) and $5 credit has lasted me a while.

    Never heard of this service. Never seen it mentioned anywhere.

    I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

    Back in the day, a couple of news stands down the street from me carried out of town and foreign newspapers and magazines. And they would sometimes do special orders. I would sometimes buy an English language foreign paper if there was a news story I was particularly interested about. To get the local angle, even if it were biased.

    Sadly, a news site behind a paywall might as well be invisible. Most people expect news to be free, like radio or TV news. On top of this, most people hate advertising, which enables free news.

    I am rethinking what I might be able to afford, especially for local news.

    I also am looking for the best, most secure payment platform. I would love a secure digital wallet that I could use everywhere.

    I only use my credit card in a few places and for a few services.

     

     

     

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    How did we get a world where communication and information is funded and monetized by advertising? It’s totally perverse.

    Publishers discovered that having advertising was an easy way to keep newspapers and magazines cheap. Cheap meant you could go after more readers. More readers were gold to advertisers.

    Historically, the first newspapers provided information about what was happening in other market towns to merchants. These were specialized subscription services. Pay financial magazines and sites continue the tradition.

    Gossip and misinformation transmitted via Twitter and Facebook and other social media for free is filling the vacuum for news and information. Gossip has always been around, but depended more on word of mouth and letters than a stable platform.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Oxymoron gold, that.

    Some of the payment options used in less developed countries actually look pretty good.

    Isn’t some payment option on Whatsapp used for things like this outside the US?

  99. 99.

    brendancalling

    Every morning I make myself a strong cup of coffee. I prefer the French press, using Cafe Bustelo, which my friend Laura once described as tasting like cigarette butts, but which I quite like.

    Anyway, I like to drink this cup of coffee while reading the news—typically the Washington Post—and skimming my favorite comics—Mary Worth, Mark Trail, Judge Parker, Arlo&Janis—when I’ll feel a familiar gurgle in my stomach. M

    That’s the coffee, making itself known. So I head off to the bathroom and make a healthy Politico in the toilet. Then I wipe my backside, flush, wash my hands, and finish my morning reading.

  100. 100.

    JAFD

    I’ve found that Politico’s New Jersey Playbook covers stuf that the MSM does not.  A lot of what it covers is trivial, but since there’s no media, based either in or out of state, that covers NJ thoroughly, it’s almost necessary.  So as long as it’s free…

  102. 102.

    Mary G

    : sab : They say dogs can’t tell time and whether you were gone for 15 minutes or all day. So as far as she knows she’s been with you her whole life happy as a clam.

    Or else may her oncologist be as good as JGC’s Lily’s were and get her several more years of great life. If treatment is spendy,  I’ll happily chip in, and I’m sure others will too.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    Stacey comin’.

    Ms. Abrams will campaign with Terry McAuliffe in Norfolk, Virginia today. Then she will appear at a campaign rally in Northern Virginia this evening.

    Former President Barak Obama will campaign with McAuliffe next Saturday. Polls show McAuliffe holding a narrow lead over his semi-billionaire opponent.

  112. 112.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid: ​
     

    Yep, looks like autumn’s finally here. So far this September/October, I’ve had the heat turned on for approximately fifteen minutes. That’s fixing to change today.

  114. 114.

    evodevo

    @sab: ​
      They’re all still stuck back in the Sixties, when all the Greek societies would dress up in sunday clothes for football games at “party schools” (I went to UK, so I know…)

  116. 116.

    Kathleen

    @Ramalama: Immaculate Heart nuns taught me when we lived in Stockton, California. I really loved those 2 years at St. Bernadette’s. I was in 5th grade in 1960 and one of the nuns had a Nixon button on her habit.

    Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet taught me in high school. A 72 year old SJOC nun was arrested while protesting at School Of The Americas when it was still open. Though my high school closed they use the space for community outreach and social justice activity. While I am no longer practicing Catholic I still get a lovely weekly newsletter from them with prayers and information about their events. I’ve often said if I had my own company I’d hire one of them to be CEO. They know how to get stuff done.

    Thank you for this link!

  117. 117.

    RAM

    It’s not for nothing that Mr. Pierce calls Politico “Tiger Beat on the Potomac.” Their crap usually isn’t even worth reading for free. The American bothsides political coverage press is, for the most part, (as my father used to say) not worth the powder to blow them to hell. And Politico is at the bottom of that dismal scale. Doubt there are enough suckers to make a paywalled version break even.

  118. 118.

    lowtechcyclist

    @RAM: ​

    And Politico is at the bottom of that dismal scale.

    Or it was, until Axios came along. It succeeds in making Politico look good by comparison.

    And then there’s Punchbowl, an even newer entrant into that market. I haven’t bothered to figure out yet whether it’s even worse than Axios.

    But none of that changes the fact that TBOTP is still garbage. That there might be even worse garbage out there doesn’t change that.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    @sab: 

    I grew up Episcopalian…

    Good friend became very involved with her Episcopal church, felt the call, went to seminary, learned Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin to read Holy books in the original texts.

    Was pastor of small working-class parish, then promoted to larger city parish, now a Bishop.

    Amazing to think I’m well acquainted with a Bishop!! Also has advanced degree in epidemiology… very smart person!!

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