Folks in comments (including me) were wondering recently why the U.S. hasn’t put an ambassador in place in Ukraine. Here’s why, according to CNN:
President Joe Biden is close to publicly naming his ambassador to Ukraine, but his administration is still waiting on formal approval from the Ukrainian government, CNN has learned.
Biden has selected Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, but hasn’t officially nominated her yet because the Ukrainian government hasn’t signed off, according to a source familiar.
Getting approval from the foreign government is part of the standard process in selecting ambassadors and can usually take anywhere from days to weeks. A source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Monday that the Ukrainian government is still vetting Brink.
The report doesn’t say when Brink was nominated, but as least we know someone is in the pipeline. Also on the topic of Ukraine, representatives from Russia and the U.S. had an angry exchange at the U.N. today, with the Russians accusing the U.S. of whipping up hysteria and U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accusing Russia of “attempting, without any factual basis, to paint Ukraine and Western countries as the aggressors to fabricate a pretext for attack.”
WaPo’s report says Russia and China joined forces to try to keep the U.S.-called Security Council meeting closed to the public, but the other members forced an open meeting. Biden said in a statement that the meeting is “a critical step in rallying the world to speak out in one voice.” It sounds like the admin is on the same page with Fiona Hill [NYT link], which is probably a good place to be.
In other overseas news, BoJo got keelhauled in Parliament earlier over a Partygate report. A snippet from the CNN analysis:
Government advisors are seriously worried that Johnson’s non-apology will not come across to the public as a man who understands what has gone wrong, but a callous man who is more interested in clinging to power than being held responsible.
Ya think? Open thread!
Baud
Are Conservatives in UK as unaccountable as the GOP is here?
Baud
I hope G&T is around to give his take on the eventual nominee.
trollhattan
Taking it right to the Brink.
I’ll see myself out.
RandomMonster
Biden should taunt republicans by naming Hunter to the post.
Ella in New Mexico
and yet he still has the Marinara Trench to go in terms of just how far down towards the depths of Hell in terms of evil he could be compared to TFFG
Baud
It’s kind of nice to be the good guys on a foreign policy issue while at the same time taking U.S. troops off the table (which I think will hold despite media pressure.)
Geminid
@Baud: The Conservatives are probably more unaccountable than Republicans here. They don’t have to face a general election until May of 2024 (although they can call one before that if conditions seem favorable). No midterms for the British.
Betty Cracker
@Ella in New Mexico: I had a similar thought. Sounds like there’s a decent chance BoJo will be forced out over this, and he should be! But TFG and his minions attempted a coup, and he’s not only not widely condemned for it within his party — he’s their frontrunner!
Baud
@Geminid: As a structural mater, that makes sense. That doesn’t tell me what the differences are in what the public will tolerate from their right-wing party.
VOR
Newflash: Boris Johnson is behaving exactly as you would expect from Boris Johnson. Who could have foreseen that?
cain
@Baud: I’m curious to know what the GOP messaging is going to be around the idea of troops. Historically, they’ve always been gung ho on these expeditions. But it seems they are caught between their loyalty to Russian oligarchs and this particular jaunt.
Lindsay Graham has never turned down an opportunity to deploy troops for instance.
The voting public if I recall is sick of these military adventures – if they were to decide to go the hawkish path, I think it will backfire.
Baud
@cain: I agree with you in terms of the dilemma the GOP faces between supporting Putin and opposing him.
I think the public is sick of military adventures, but also remains susceptible to GOP/media framing that when a Dem doesn’t send in the troops, it’s because of weakness.
JoyceH
Maybe that’s ‘the standard process’, but don’t try to tell me that process was followed during the Trump administration! Unless you can convince me that THE POPE signed off on Callista Gingrich!
VeniceRiley
Well, Sue Gray is distressed. Sounds like her meager 12 pages are more of a vague Executive Summary type document. The police have a ream and a half of documents and over 300 photos. Remains to be seen whether these dribble out, or gets buried, or what. I suppose it’s up to Cressida Dick.
Can’t see how not just ripping the band-aid off is not better. This is going to go on and on unless he is made to step down. Then they’ll put zombie-eyed-granny-starver Rishi Sunak in charge, is my guess.
Jay
@cain:
deployment of troops will be to NATO partners in Eastern Europe, not Ukraine,
Other than continued training missions, alongside NATO partners.
The Canadian Armed Forces have several ongoing training missions with the Ukraine Military.
The Dangerman
@trollhattan: Yeah, she’s been shelved in a jar jar.
Scout211
The “seriously worried” advisors of a seriously arrogant, narcissistic, law breaking and self-serving leader in the UK brings up the “seriously worried” advisors and GOP politicians in Washington over TFG’s seriously arrogant, narcissistic, law breaking and self-serving leadership . . . Ha ha! Just kidding! Those worried politicians and advisors will do nothing, just like all those in the GOP for the past 4 years.
My normie husband is almost through Midnight in Washington and he is seriously wondering if it was a good idea to stay disconnected from the news in Washington during TFG’s 4 years in office. He said that he was not aware that all of the decisions that TFG made and all of the actions he took in office were only to benefit himself financially and to maintain power and that none of his actions were to the benefit of the nation or its citizens.
Yep. Welcome to my world Mr. Scout. ?
I told him that he probably needs to just sit with this information before he does a deep dive into the awfulness of the past four years. But I did promise to hold his hand if he chooses to do so.
NotMax
As it happens to be the 225th anniversary of Franz Schubert’s birth today, Marche Militaire.
eversor
On BoJo I think one of the lessons we’ve all learned is that free and open societies aren’t capable of holding the powerful responsible if their tribe decides they don’t want to be. The first group of people that says “fuck it I’m not playing by the rules I’m just going to dominate and I’m will to cheat and even get violent” wins by default. So the key is to be the one to get there first.
gene108
I find it quaint that Johnson’s government may fall apart over a few office and birthday parties in violation of coronavirus restrictions.
The U.S. wouldn’t bat an eye, if our conservative party did something so trivial. We are so desensitized to scandal and corruption right now. I’m not sure if faith in institutions will ever be restored within my lifetime or that of other GenX’ers.
Kalakal
@Geminid: Johnson is toast and will be out. As you say there doesn’t have to be an election till 24. In the UK in an election you vote for the party not a President/Prime minister. The Prime Minister is the person who can “Command a majority in the house of commons”, which is nearly always the leader of the majority party. If that party decides that leader is a millstone they will axe them, ask Thatcher or May. Major, Brown & Johnson all became PM witout an election. The only way an election can be held earlier is if parliament votes for it, the Tories are the majority, they’re not going to vote for it unless it looks like they’re sure to win
Geminid
@Baud: The public has to grin and bear it. Labour has gained in the polls, but they don’t have any more power than they did three months ago. There will be a by-election from time to time, but the Conservative’s paliamentary majority is big enough that they’ll be able to hang on until 2024. Negative election results and negative polls could induce a change of course. An internal rebellion could also. I’ve read that members from the northern Labour districts flipped in the last election are getting antsy.
Boris Johnson is the acute problem right now. But it sounds like the Conservatives are ready to throw Johnson to the wolves- lighten up the sleigh, so to speak. They probably would have done this already if they could agree on his successor..
NotMax
Open thread? Intended this for the morning commentfest but was waylaid by Morpheus.
Podcasting, as it were.
All-islands number up from the same time last year, when the count spotted totaled 177.
trollhattan
If/when he departs #10 I hope somebody counts the silverware.
Kalakal
To give an idea of how ridiculous UK parliamentary procedure is the leader of the Scottish National Party (the by a long way majority party in Scotland) called Johnson a liar. He refused to apologise and was escorted out of the building by a man with a sword,⅚ Johnson meanwhile was allowed to remain and continue lying. Here’s a link that includes some public reaction
Ian Blackford had to leave the Commons for refusing to mislead parliament about the PM misleading parliament https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2022/01/31/ian-blackford-leaves-commons-for-saying-pm-lied/
Brachiator
BoJo has been acting like the elitist that he has always been, but somehow sells an affable “man of the people” image to some of the most gullible. BoJo went to all the elitist schools, but Labour leader Starmer, who is more dull than dish water, gets bashed by some lefties because he is a lawyer and hence, ain’t proper working class.
Problem is, few other prominent Tories can even pretend. Recently, Jacob Rees-Mogg talked about how glorious it was when nanny made his breakfast.
JoyceH
Maybe those more conversant with UK politics could answer a question for me. Is Boris Johnson’s hair simply unmanageable, or is that a deliberate style choice?
VeniceRiley
@JoyceH: It is deliberate. His brother has perfectly combed hair.
eversor
@JoyceH:
It’s deliberate to appeal to the chuds.
Brachiator
@JoyceH:
He does this on purpose. Same with his often weirdly shambolic way of speaking.
As does his sister. They all look like blonde characters from “Village of the Damned.”
Kalakal
@JoyceH: It’s a style choice. He worked out years ago that it made him appear more human. He’s playing a caricature of the jolly good chap, not too stuffy and formal, in fact, a fine, fun fellow. Same with the language “Cripes!” “Piffle, Paffle” and the cod latin. His public persona (as per his chums in the media) is that of a cartoon public schoolboy from the 20s and 30s and could have come out of PG Wodehouse or Frank Richards. In reality he’s a nasty, calculating weasel who, while not altogether stupid, is considerably less clever than he thinks he is
Roger Moore
@VeniceRiley:
It’s better for the party, but not necessarily better for powerful individuals who are going to be taken down by the scandal. If enough of the other cabinet members are also implicated, they might collectively decide it’s better to brazen it out.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
As far as Bojo; when I watching Bojo clown about trying to open an umbrella at the police dead memorial I was thinking it was only a matter of time before Bojo’s antics were reframed from “amusing” to “wanker”.
Anyway
@eversor:
It’s deliberate to appeal to the chuds.
Big mystery to me is how come journalists can’t or won’t see through the persona (or pretend to ignore it)…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
And Hunter be specified to wear a tan suite while representing the US by executive order.
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting Techniques
And here I thought all Brits were born with knowledge of how to open a brolly.
:)
Brachiator
@Anyway:
Even more than in the US, the big British newspapers are even more overtly ideological. As a citizen, you decide which party you belong to and which news rag you will read.
BoJo used to write a column for the Daily Telegraph, and regularly wines and dines with the publisher.
Some papers are pro-Tory, but hate Johnson.
Kalakal
@JoyceH: Astoundingly Johnson does not have the worst haircut amongst Tory MPs.
Gaze with awe upon the preposterous mop of Michael Fabricant
https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/12/boris-johnson-held-no-10-lockdown-party-as-he-felt-sorry-for-staff-says-tory-mp-15902987/amp/
Tony Jay
1) Flobalob is still very much deep, deep in the shit over Partygate and the accusations of bullying/bribery and the general ‘lying to Parliament’. This is all just delaying tactics.
2) The UK’s access-centred political journalists consistently play the “somehow Johnson might just survive this” joker because they luuuurrrvvve the easy drama he provides.
3) The chances of 54 MPs concerned about their continued employment sending in letters to force a No Confidence vote in his leadership just went up by a random large number.
4) The leaking of the type and quantity of evidence (photographic and written) Grey’s report has given the Met Police is a marker – don’t try burying this, we’ve got copies.
5) Flobby’s wife, already on the hook for the ‘Dogs Not Wogs’ scandal, is named and shamed. Cummings’ revenge is gathering speed.
6) Fresh leaks should hit this week
7) He’s toast.
Kalakal
@Brachiator:
So very true
Gravenstone
@Kalakal: Just because the name similarity, I shall afflict you with an image of the late James Traficant. Proud bearer of what has to be amongst the most horrifying toupees ever to “grace” a human head. I advise only the most stout hearted to click through.
eversor
@Anyway:
Money. The raw truth is the well off and the upper middle class will always side for who is best for their wallets and makes sure there is no competition for their kids from the lower class. The media will always support the conservatives unless the liberals are willing to say “fine, social liberalism but let’s liquid the working class”.
Whomever gives the rich the best deal and stomps on the lower classes the hardest will get the medias backing.
They know damn well what they are doing.
Kalakal
@Gravenstone: Good God
Steeplejack (phone)
@Scout211:
? You’re a good wife!
Geminid
@Tony Jay: If you would care to comment, I’m curious as to Dominic Cummings’ role: what was he before Brexit, what is his game now? And is Cummings really as nasty as he seems?
Ken
See, Baud, conservatives in the UK are held accountable. It just happens through petty revenge and political backstabbing, not through the more
traditionalconventional channels.(Edited to replace “traditional”, after I reflected on British political traditions. Though it may be unfair to include pre-Norman traditions.)
Yarrow
@Ella in New Mexico: Johnson and Trump are not that far apart in terms of evil. Johnson just has a posher accent. They’re both up to their eyeballs in Russian money and treason. They’re both racists, misogynists, liars, and narcissists who think rules don’t apply to them.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: They’re going to try to pin all of this on Carrie Antoinette.
Ruckus
@Baud:
A good bet that they are worse, just because of the structure of the government.
Faithful Lurker
I haven’t read all the comments, so I’m not sure whether anyone has mentioned A Different Bias on You Tube. It was recommended in the comments here last week. It is fascinating. A new installment every day form an extremely articulate laborite commenting on the British government and Brexit. I’ve learned a lot about what’s going on across the pond. If you’re interested in Brit politics and Brexit I highly recommend it, in-between waiting for Tony Jay.
Ruckus
@Kalakal:
Still, that makes him far more clever than TFG. Which of course is about the lowest bar around.
Baud
@Tony Jay: Good to hear!
Tony Jay
@Geminid:
Cummings was a minor advisor/dataspinner with Russian links who worked for Michael Gove before oozing into the same kind of role for the Leave campaign and then for Johnson himself. He was the guy who would provide the snarl to back up Flobalob’s smirk and keep everyone on their last nerve. His disdain for and desire to do away with the entire Civil Service was used as a weapon – keep Johnson happy or he’ll fail to restrain Cummings.
I’ve previously described him in very unflattering terms and that opinion hasn’t changed. He’s a nasty, nihilistic gobshite with a delusional view of himself as a World Historical Megamind. He breaks things and calls it creative destruction, but in reality they just stay broken.
That said, if he’s the one orchestrating these leaks then he’s got some kind of invisible force field of protection keeping the Security Services off his back, which in Tory circles usually means an influential Oligarch or two.
Whatever, it wasn’t enough to prevent Johnson’s wife orchestrating his sacking, and as he’s taking enough overt pleasure in at least being thought of as the source of Johnson’s woes, I’m willing to hold off on his arrest, torture and execution until one nanosecond after Flobby gets the boot.
trollhattan
Good, I’ll bring the
jammarmite.LongHairedWeirdo
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, but face it, Trump has the hair that deflects peoples attention as they all look on in horror and said “he spent a lot of time and money to emulate a strangely mutated rodent, that almost entirely fits inside his cranial cavity.”
I mean, BoJo’s mom remembers the time he was acting like a little tin horn, banging on a tin pot, and suddenly hearing the phrase “tin pot dictator” said “MOMMY! That’s what I’ll be when I mature!”
What loving mom wouldn’t say “well, its very naughty to subjugate people and make their lives worse for your presence, but if that is what you want to do when you, uh, grow up, I won’t be able to stop you any more.”
“Can’t put me in timeout then, can you mommy?”
It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. Except, it is, isn’t it? Two of the most ridiculous people on the face of the planet, Trump who nearly took down Putin and Kim Jung-un completely.
“Putin! You won’t believe this! That pathetic tiny handed dullard thinks *I* write the letters I send to him! He’s never heard of a diplomat. Oh, send up a fresh diplomat, and plenty of antiemetics and ginger, I just got to hear how he responds to me saying I want a Trump Tower North Korea *before* we negotiate a formal end to the war.”
They laughed until they would have peed themselves, but ruthless dictators would never admit that, so, while we can hope for a nice case of diaper rash, they are both far more mature and kind hearted than Trump seems to be.
“Hey, I got his entire Republican Party to think Russia is on their side! I mean, can you believe the stupidity of these morons? They’ve been sending hate about their friends and neighbors – this this mean, with a d?”
“Capital D, for Democrat” Kim replied, never knowing that Kimba, the white lion, was prowling outside, determined to redeem the first syllable of his name.
“We can say anything we like about half the country! We can get people insulting their moms, their dads, their friends, and family, and they brought it on themselves! Oh, I’m going to send a tweet saying that Biden shaves with a broken bottle. They’ll spread it, and make little videos – oh, they are so gullible.
“Seriously, what kind of (stream of Russian that roughly translates as “the kind of guy who keeps planting scorpions to kill both themselves and frog, yet stupid enough to trust the scorpion when it laughs, says we’re good buds, can you give me a lift)?”
(Russian is amazing. I have it on good authority – my untethered imagination – that insult can be delivered in under six syllables, though you have to kinda his’try it in places. Most of those places, in fact. That’s what makes it so amazing!)
Putin then rips off a long, loud, resonant “donald” and Kim laughs. “I’m glad I’m not here to smell that!”
“I don’t use chemical weapons against other heads of state when people are watching, so… yes, you’re right, no one watching, I cut loose!”
Isn’t it *great* to know some people can outthink these yobos? And that former guy *did* almost make them laugh themselves to death. It would have worked, except “pathetic” gets boring so fast, it couldn’t generate the laughs for long enough.
Face it, a man who thinks a killer one-liner to drop at a Catholic charity event is “look at her over there, pretending she doesn’t hate Catholics.”
Because, when an organization feels honored that Hillary Clinton is standing with them, supporting their goals, which isn’t bad for a protestant (I’m not very hip with Catholic jokes – sorry if that doesn’t work any more), well, it would have been funny if Lardo The Orange was canned entertainment, “see how stupid Republicans can be?”
One should not attack honored guests with poison-mean, stupid, hateful, lies. Especially , if a ma… if a … if a apparently physically fully grown male human being is running for President. It’s not a Catholic rule, as I understand it. It was something called, um… lemme think, hard to remember… oh, yes! Politeness, and common decency.
Did you see that? Both words VAPORIZED once they got too close to a description of, well, of Rocket, the raccoon appearing guy? Only, instead of a racoon, they used an enormous longhorn steer (oh, don’t *go* there, that’s *nasty*), mutated the horns to *kinda* resemble hair, and, of course, they had to increase the amount of flatulence.
It was a cull, not intended for escape from the lab. And it vaporizes good things, just like it tried to destroy America.
Wanna hear how I really feel?
trollhattan
@Kalakal:
Wowzers!
One of these uses a hand-mixer and the other raided Phil Spector’s wig closet.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
He’s been wanker for a very long time. More just had the good manners not to refer to him as one.
@Anyway:
Journalists get paid by their employers who are on the wanker’s side. Mainly because they are wankers as well….
My wanker to US conservative translator may be slightly out of date but I believe the gist is still correct….
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
Well the Tory Far-Right will. They’ve got her pegged as an inconvenient vector for eco-freako Green ideas to get into Number 10 when they want to be the only ideological puppeteers with their hands up Johnson’s exposed rump. Its not enough she’s a cold- blooded PR spinner with pure Tory ichor flowing through her veins, she’s got to be one of their Klan or she’s a threat to their glorious triumph over… well, everything else.
Honestly. These people need to be confined to an anthrax ridden island somewhere and left to fight it out with loaded ferrets.
Yarrow
@Geminid: Cummings worked as an adviser to Michael Gove (Conservative MP and now Minister) for seven years. Some of what you’re seeing is him working to get Johnson out and probably push for Gove to be PM. Seems there could be some Murdoch support there. And yes, Cummings is as bad as he seems.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: I have to ask. Are you feeling okay? :-) That seems like an remarkably small number of words for you to use in making 7 points.
JPL
@Tony Jay: What’s the Dogs not Wogs scandal? I missed that one.
Ruckus
@Tony Jay:
I take it that Cummings is not a friend to the normal humans who inhabit the isle but is in this solely for himself. IOW this is pure revenge for him.
I mean, a nanosecond seems to be a fairly long time in this matter…..
Daoud bin Daoud
@trollhattan: Somebody really, really needs to inventory the wine cellar.
Geminid
@Yarrow: I find Johnson to be appalling, but Cummings gives me the creeps.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Brachiator: Jacob Rees-Mogg is the template for Monty Python’s “Upperclass Twit of the Year” sketch. (If MP had a TARDIS, obviously!)
Yarrow
@Geminid: That Cummings makes your skin crawl means you have a good radar for “creep.”
LongHairedWeirdo
@LongHairedWeirdo: TextArea Cache in Firefox would have saved the reply I had wiped accidentally. Just in case anyone else could use it.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Kalakal: Michael Fabricant is a BoJo Replicant.
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
I’m just putting the boy to bed, teaching myself conversational Venusian (just in case) and whittling a scale model of Luther Vandross out of unsalted butter.
IOW I’m practicing brevity. 8-)
Yarrow
@JPL: Animals were evacuated from Afghanistan instead of people like translators who had worked for the British Army and so forth. Turns out there are emails saying that using a plane to evacuate the animals was okayed by the PM.
oatler
BoJo’s been abusing the perks of his post as Warden of the Cinque Ports.
Bill Arnold
@Tony Jay:
This interview is Dominic Cummings: worth a read/skim (linked somewhere here earlier):
The Man Trying to Take Down Boris Johnson It’s “an unpleasant but necessary job,” says Dominic Cummings. “It’s like sort of fixing the drains.” (Tanya Gold, JAN. 30, 2022)
trollhattan
@Daoud bin Daoud:
Excellent point. “What’s become of all the clarets?”
If wine entered #10 via suitcase it can surely leave in a similar manner.
trollhattan
@Tony Jay: If you nail Vandross, do Barry White next. Pro tip: begin with extra butter.
JPL
@Yarrow: Thanks. That is really bad, and Johnson needs to be booted for that.
Tony Jay
@JPL:
During the last days of the Afghanistan pull-out Johnson ordered priority to be given to getting a well-connected dog lover’s kennel of rescued hounds out of Dodge while not lifting a finger for the gullible browns who had been fingered by the Taliban as collaborators.
When it came to light he lied about it, then leaks emerged proving his office had given those orders. He’s still lying about it, but that’s just who and what he is.
I’m expecting a photograph to emerge of him extorting sexual favours from a dignified but desperate Afghan hound sometime next week.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Tony Jay: All of which you said was correct, and it makes me ponder if you’re having the same thing we have here.
Four eight years, the press got punked, over and over, with some of the most stupid, see-through tactics imaginable. But they said “WHEE! WAR!” and let themselves get punked for another 8 years. Then, they put profits over the good of America, reaped the riches, and are just now getting punked again.
And it is ridiculous… and so is the press. Hence, my recent tone. Remind people this is all ridiculous, with a tone that helps grease the skids. Don’t criticize the press, ever. Mock them. Make them look as ridiculous as any mature individual would see them. In the US “Will BoJo survive this” == “have the UK people had enough, even though we continue to hide and underreport and downplay the truth?”
No idea if it would help across the pond – I think I heard you chaps have been (I think the expression is) taking the piss out of people for generations, and probably used a different term before, instead. But if you notice no one’s taking the male bovine excretia out of the Press, that’s far worse than allowing a, uh… I dunno, piss buildup?
Roger Moore
@Daoud bin Daoud:
Determining that it’s empty shouldn’t take long.
Daoud bin Daoud
So the Spitting Image version of Dominic Cummings is not really a parody?
Tony Jay
@Bill Arnold:
The fact that Cummings is waging this merry little campaign of terror against a sitting Prime Minister without getting very quickly and oh so coincidentaly knocked off his bike by a plateless black van just proves that he’s just the yapping dog on someone else’s leash. Someone very well-connected, very much in possession of secrets way beyond this montage of tittle-tattle, and very likely with diplomatic immunity.
Yarrow
@Kalakal: Michael Fabricant doesn’t even seem like he could be real.
germy
Yarrow
From Cummings’ Wiki:
He spent that much time in Russia, they’ve got all sorts of dirt on him.
Also:
Firtash as in Dimitry Firtash, Ukrainian businessman with alleged connections to Russian organized crime who is fighting extradition to the US.
Betty
@Kalakal: The English-speaking Caribbean follows those rules too, and with lots of corruption on these small islands, we have seen many an opposition member marched out. They are always shut down by the Speaker for speaking ill of the Prime Minister.
Brachiator
@LongHairedWeirdo:
The British press, even more than here (or as much as here) are a political power and part of the Establishment. Have been for centuries. You can’t mock the press, because they can mock back harder. They will publish dirt on the Royals if it will get a laugh. Or teach a lesson.
The British press have been fined for tapping celebrities phones. They pay the fine and keep on going. Because in the end, people love scandals and entertainment.
Where can you mock the press? Social media? The press is there too.
The press is not totally invulnerable, but a critical mass of morons give them their power.
Suzanne
@Brachiator:
It’s because he looks disheveled and mildly unhealthy and sloppy.
MisterDancer
If I understand you correctly: That was The Daily’s Show hat, and it did help, for a while.
I think the issue is that the people who make up America’s mainstream press are pulled, more and more, from elite circles. If I’m right and you need connections to get foot in the door of a major media player…that’s a different model than what we saw in the 20th century. Plus: we forget that, even then, there’s a long history of media passively ignoring (FDR’s disability) or being actively silenced (1918 Flu censorship).
Add to it the growing need to make money off news, and all that (if I’m right) adds up to a modern media isolated from the concerns of actual ordinary Americans, whist determined to muckrake news to rile people up into buying. It leads to reporters holding onto critical information to protect connections, until they can write tell-alls. It creates a chattering class that knows better than ordinary Americans what’s really important, while patting Authoritarians on the back for being “civil” and “fun to hang out with”.
Therefore: they are more-or-less immunized to shame, because now there’s nearly no incentive to feel shame. The forces that smacked CROSSFIRE in the face with it’s hypocrisy? Nearly all gone, and I don’t think that’s an accident.
Kalakal
@LongHairedWeirdo: No the British press didn’t get punked. They’re (for the most part) willing collaborators. Quite a few senior Tories are ex journalists, Johnson & Gove for two. Johnson was fired by the Times for lying and was promptly hired by the Telegraph. The British press is a small and incestuous world and Johnsons been a fairly prominent part of it for over 35 year. They know exactly what he is
Ken
Go on, you can say it.
Well, maybe you can’t say it, for legal reasons. But it’s the Queen, isn’t it?
Ken
“My god, he kept the pink copies of all the work orders we gave him!”
Geminid
@oatler: Maybe when Johnson is dumped they can offer him the post of Captain of Calais. It’s been vacant for a while now.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Brachiator: Step 2: fight back with the one thing they simply don’t understand. Love.
“Why aren’t the press asking DeSantis why he can’t do more to prevent preventable deaths? Did he really think monoclonal antibodies would work forever? Every prudent expert said they wouldn’t!”
Don’t make it freedom versus mitigation. Make it about heart.
“Mr. CheetoDustedFartCloudOfPureEvil, does it ever bother you, just a tad, that some of your most ardent worshipers are forced to contend with how horribly you betrayed them, as they’re about to be ventilated, and may never wake up again? I reckon that thought would pierce the hardest of hearts. Those poor Republican voters, condemned to death by faith in the Republican Party.”
No, I’m not just taking the gloves off, I’m grabbing the brass knucks!
JPL
OT for Wordle fans NYTimes has purchase Wordle and it will be on their game page.
At the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and no changes will be made to its gameplay.
Yarrow
@LongHairedWeirdo:
This is an incredibly wrong framing. They are not naive players who were totally, totally surprised by what those tricksy politicians were doing. Jeez.
MazeDancer
The party’s over.
NYT has bought Wordle.
Paid in the “low seven figures”.
Glad the guy made some dough. Sad I won’t be able to play anymore.
The fun part was sharing efforts and discussing without spoilers on Twitter.
JPL
@MazeDancer: You can still play at least for now. I’m not sure when they switch over though.
From the NYTimes
At the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and no changes will be made to its gameplay.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Kalakal: Yikes. Deep, deep understanding (different cause, same problem). I hope sanity returns to the rest. And yes, they *are* the crazy ones. Never hurts to remind people. Hell, I’ve reminded my cat probably dozens of times, and he only rarely disagrees. And I think he’s joking then.
Remember: have fun. Take the anger – right now stuff – and make it rage – imagine Malcolm X (“Yeah, but if my boy ain’t judged by the content of his character, he is going to make someone’s eye black, so they know how black feels” Roughly.)
Anger too – but imagine the wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr, melded. That, Dr. King, with Malcolm’s drive (I’m not saying KIng didn’t exceed it – but at least that much), and make it rage. (It’s easy to see rage when someone becomes angry. It’s harder to see – gotta be felt, kinda – the rage in quiet, absolute, determination. So, King – with at least that much drive. Make your rage a weapon, but coated in humanity.
“These people are killing my friends. How can I help people see that? I’ll do everything, because love is going to kick these criminal asses out of power!”
Kalakal
@Brachiator:
Occasionally hate and disgust works.
The Sun, a particularly nasty UK rag, has been dead in Liverpool since 1989 after their reporting on the Hillsborough disaster
Perhaps the most cynical thing about the British press is that many of them have different versions. There is the English, Scottish, and NI versions of The Sun for instance. They tend to run the same stories but slant them according to locality. I have often seen the same story, in the same paper on Scottish Independence be written as pro North of the border and anti South
MazeDancer
@JPL: The Times gives away nothing.
They will figure out a way to monetize it.
For one, if they let you copy/pasta your results onto social media, it will, at minimum, include an NYT logo. And a link to a subscription offer.
The fun is done. Will enjoy the remaining days.
Tony Jay
@Ken:
Ha! Oh God, no. Lizzy the Mooch’s made-men wouldn’t be seen dead in a rumpled t-shirt. They’re more bespoke tweed and sword-canes at midnight.
I was thinking more along the lines of people a bit more nouveau-rich than that. The kind of people who own global media empires and have half the world’s dictators on speed dial.
Captain C
@Tony Jay:
In the U.S., you could just tell them that doing so would ‘own the libs’ and you could probably get at least half of them to go on their own. Not sure what it would take in the UK, maybe tell them that there are no [racial slurs] or curry there.
germy
JPL
@MazeDancer: I’m sure that it is only temporarily. There’s always a catch.
Captain C
@LongHairedWeirdo:
A lot of them are not here for the hunting.
Anyway
@MazeDancer:
Fuck!
Happy for the guy that created Wordle but no way is FTFNYT getting a click from me.
Glad I have the other link (with no daily limits) that Suzanne shared.
schrodingers_cat
@JoyceH: He is slumming it, just like the senator from Vt, a large senate candidate from PA and the yoga pants wearing senator from MA.
It is a rich person’s idea of being a man/woman of the people.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Yarrow: Oh, yeah, they’ll confess right away when we accuse them right?
No, we’ll mock, which suggests the correct answer. And I apologize, if needed – I wanted to show what I meant. Mock just right, and the answer is right in front of your face, like the Schiavo court records. I don’t see HOW the press could have missed those documents explaining the status of the legal situation, and show that the judge thought the Schindler’s were not entirely honest, and definitely pissed at Michael.
Seems to me that’d be one of those s things… story, not scoop, because *every* single one of *every* news organization in the newsnited states would have obtained, and studied them. Fox News did; they needed to tailor their lie carefully to the truth. (I assume it was a lie – they couldn’t be *that* precisely stupid, unless they knew the truth.) Did CNN? Why not mention those extremely relevant issues – this could all be a heated family squabble that lost an e.
I dunno, I never went to journalism school. But it seems horrible to miss that, with all the hate flowing. Especially since, the hate flow? That’s what proved to any chump, that it was all fake. I know a chump – want to hire one as a researcher?
It just seems wrong to me. Is it just me? Damn, shouldn’t have said that.
No, wait, I can do better, and I want to have some fun, rather than just “muslin”:
Okay: living with ultimately unfair criticism, everyone, cue the sound, a one and a two, and *COWBELL*!!
“… if it’s just me, I’ll shut up.”
“Nah, it’s pretty rough.”
“I can try to pull it back… a little.”
“But not too much – people are dying.
(Dude, it might wipe cowbell off your everyday menu!)
Maybe you could hire some liberals, who care about the truth, the next time you play along with a patently obvious republican smear?
Matt McIrvin
@MazeDancer: I always found the fact that it’s completely trivial to cheat at Wordle charming. It makes the whole thing completely low-stakes–nobody could ever make it worth something to win the game. Now they’re probably going to try to figure out how to monetize it
FWIW, there are a whole bunch of Wordle clones out there–my favorite is hello-wordl which will let you play as many times as you like, has different-word-length modes and an “ultra-hard mode” in which you have to follow all the provided clues more literally than Wordle’s hard mode–if it says a letter is in the wrong place you can’t put it there again. I like playing that way because it forces optimal play–it’s infuriating but if you can make a guess at all, you’re more likely to solve the puzzle in fewer guesses.
LongHairedWeirdo
@LongHairedWeirdo: Oh, come now, weirdo! You can’t *really* think it was patently obvious this was a setup, can you? I mean, it’s not like the Democrats were right on the law, and right on the medical ethics, and agreed the poor woman was in a PVS, and Republicans lied about each and every one of those.
I mean, lied about the law, medical ethics, in a PVS, and that Democrats were actually correct in those areas.
With public documents clearly laying it out. That’s not obvious enough. It’s not like it’s *proof*.
Yarrow
@LongHairedWeirdo: I have no idea what all this means but if you think the press was somehow naive and got played by the politicians you are the one who is naive. They do what they do for ratings and clicks to make money for their bosses. Occasionally doing journalism aligns with the making money goal, but more often not. Mocking them will not make things change but it might make people feel better.
Betty Cracker
@MazeDancer: Yeah, great for the developer but damn those pricks for ruining a simple daily joy. I can keep playing even if they make it subscriber only (which they will) because I glom onto someone else’s NYT subscription for work purposes. But no way am I sharing Wordle results on Twitter, etc., with their goddamn logo on it. Fuckity fuck.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Yarrow: YOU are naive if you think you can’t make every dumb journalist squirm by showing how dumb they’d *have* to be, not to ask questions. (eta: or heartless; or whatever)
Accusations, anger, fuming, none of those can make a journalist look ridiculous, which is one of the times when they really should feel guilty. I don’t care if the Republicans are publicly pantsing the press, or if the press is dropping trou voluntarily, but let’s let people know that they’re showing their ass.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: Can’t really blame the developer for cashing in, but Fuck the NYT. I really liked the one a day limit. Made it fun but not obsessive. Its simplicity was part of its charm. The NYT might find they wasted some money. Once the joy goes the people will leave too.
Yarrow
@LongHairedWeirdo: People have been pointing out how dumb the press it for decades online. They don’t care. They just keep doing more of the same. Do all the pointing and mocking you want. I’m sure that will be the thing that gets them to change.
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
“Jeff Sessions threw back two fingers and of Southern Comfort and began unbuttoning his heritage-grey pants. At no point did his eyes leave the bed and the ash-white wig, stolen just that morning from the Warhol Museum, that lay wantonly atop black silk sheets.
‘Ah bin waiting a loooong time for you, sugah. Let’s take our tahhhhm.’
And nine months later, in a discrete hospital outside Brighton, a little boy called Michael was born. The Fabricants took him the same day. They’d waited long enough for a human child, this… this would have to do.”
Yarrow
Finally getting caught up with the small bit of summary Sue Grey report that has been released.
LOL. Carrie Antoinette is being underbussed for sure.
Tony Jay
@Captain C:
But then, who would they look down on? They’d have to start ‘othering’ the guillemots.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: ??? Accurate.
debbie
@Brachiator:
I believe he’s been spotted mussing it up while waiting to go onstage. ?
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
It’s been this way with the leaks from the start. Each one cutting a little deeper, taking a bit more skin with each slash. Now the flaying is over and they’re working on stripping the soft fat away from the muscles.
Flobby was warned. He didn’t listen.
NotMax
Yay.
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: Read somewhere last week that whoever is doing this wants to destroy Johnson, not just get him out of office. Make him so toxic he has trouble landing a nice comfy job once out of office.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Excellent news. Moderna seems to be the best of all the vaccines. Protection lasts longer.
Captain C
@Tony Jay: If they’re anything like the ones here, they’d just hate on the people and things they left behind, in part for said people not wanting to live commuter lives while serving those who ran from them.
Brachiator
@MazeDancer:
Wow. That was fast.
Kalakal
Johnson’s trajectory in under a month
NotMax
@Brachiator
NYT operates at the speed of blight.
//
Tony Jay
@Yarrow:
I think there’s multiple reasons. Ousting a sitting Prime Minister like this, using leaks and humiliation to orchestrate an internal mutiny, it needs buy-in from a lot of jealous donor-class interests, some of whom would rather have Johnson there long term because of his easily manipulated ego and lack of any internal code. There’s been no counter-offensive. No exposure of the leakers. No tit-for-tat at all.
The glee taken in the work smells personal, but to get the freedom to indulge it takes the tacit agreement of people who don’t really do ‘personal’. IMHO
Ken
@Kalakal: Close, but I think he’s trying
5. Police are investigating a party held in my wife’s flat.
sdhays
@Yarrow: I wonder what he did to make someone inside the Tory Party hate him this much. Did he renege on his debts to Firtash or something?
Tony Jay
@Captain C:
Yup. Small minds think alike.
Benw
@MazeDancer: “no changes will be made to its gameplay” except one minor fix that the solution will always be: I♥NYT
I checked my Wordle today and my first guess was TIMES. Spooky!
trollhattan
@sdhays:
Guessing they became acquainted. “What’s
notto like?” seems apt here.Am concerned with the countless BoJo spawn flung across the UK (and elsewhere?) there are two generations of them yet to come.
Brachiator
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Journalists are not editors. Editors are not publishers.
Editor Rebekah Brooks got caught up in a phone hacking scandal, resigned in disgrace, got a 10 million pound payout and was soon back working for Rupert Murdoch again.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Yarrow: Oh, friend, don’t try this on me. Not today.
“Gee, if only there was something different this time, like a giant pandemic, worsened by the hate and mistrust generated by the Schiavo case. Ooops, THAT wouldn’t have happened if they exposed the Bush team’s obvious lies and acknowledge that, no matter they boost the Republican’s pool numbers, they are still completely factually incorrect with a reckless disregard for the truth and I think that’s bad or something.”
“And more chains besides.’
Wake up. Laugh a little. I’m have *boatloads* of fun, I’ve got dozens of zingers all lined up, huge numbers of jokes. I guess I’ll have to join tweetbook or something, to get some stuff around, but long form blogging is a much stronger tool for people who give a damn, than twitter. Maybe there’s a new “long form blogging” by now, that I don’t know about, too.
Change your tactics, and then *LAY ON THE SHAME*. People are literally dying today, because Republicans let them think helpless people can be murdered in hospitals. And people believe that because a pathetic pack of lies was unquestioningly accepted.
Wanna know my line? “You hurt my friends. Oh, I ain’t met ’em all yet, but I’ve lost 800 thousand people any one of whom might have been my bestie. And I’m coming for you.”
I’ll try to make it cool, or cute, though. That’s my way.
Stay serious – but never let the Republicans set the battle ground. “Who said Afghanistan was some kind of disaster? It’s the Afghani Government that collapsed, under Trump’s plan, remember? Not Joe Biden.
“Oh, many people are saying, Republican propaganda is to the effect of, I get it, you still fall for that one. Are you allowed to use the big kid scissors yet?”
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: But will it remember my winning streak?
Baud
Wordle is garbage.
sdhays
@trollhattan: Surely not. I mean, of all the people, these people knew who he was long before he got anywhere near Number 10. He must have done something special to cause an oligarch or two to want to destroy him.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Oh good, now I can do Wordle and Spelling Bee back-to-back without having to change sites.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Still bitter you didn’t get one, eh?
Yarrow
@Tony Jay: I tend to agree. It is interesting that there’s been no counter offensive. Just leak after leak. It’s been quite entertaining to watch Johnson squirm week after week but at some point you do have to wonder why there hasn’t been a response. Is it all just a game designed to distract from something else? I see the government’s “Benefits of Brexit” report was released today. A good day to release something if you want it buried.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Too many letters in “garbage.”
Wordle is “trash.”
Yarrow
I see this is trending:
Benw
@Gin & Tonic: he salty they didn’t call it Baudle.
Baud
@Yarrow:
Don’t Look Down?
KSinMA
@Faithful Lurker: Thanks for mentioning that–I’ll watch!
Yarrow
@Baud: Meet the Talkers.
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
How much of this, do you think, is also hurting the Conservative Party?
Can Labour ever stop fighting amongst themselves and actually take advantage of the slaying of Boris Johnson?
JPL
@Brachiator: Labour makes the Squad seem mainstream.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Yeah, I guess she has Sirota Envy.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
It’s very bad for the Tories and looks like it’s going to result in a bloody civil-war over whatever passes for the ‘soul’ of that soulless entity. They’ve tried Mister Faction of His Own and he’s led them into this mess with his corruption, hubris and refusal to take a hint. None of the other factions like or trust each other and see an existential threat in not controlling whoever sits in the top spot. It’s going to be brutal and hopefully destructive.
And Labour’s self-destructiveness could stop tommorow if the leadership wanted to, but they don’t. Their genius idea is that their hippy-punching will somehow convince the Tory electorate and donors to start wearing red rosettes so they can dump all of those yucky socialists and get invited to respectable clubs. I don’t think that’s going to work out for them.
Cameron
@Baud: “Don’t Look Down – The Jeff Toobin Story?”
coin operated
@Tony Jay:
If it dies, you’ll owe me an external USB monitor over this…
(edited for brevity)
Frank Wilhoit
@Yarrow: It’s not “whoever”, it’s Cummings, a person of little enough credibility of his own. (Glass houses, stones, etc.)
And it’s not Johnson, it’s the Party. Say it. Say it every time.
debbie
@JPL:
There’s always Word Master. Unlimited play; no picture to share, but it does keep track of your winning streak.
Tony Jay
@coin operated:
It’s the only explanation I could think of. 8-)
Frank Wilhoit
@Yarrow: If Tony’s theory is correct — and I find it too clever by at least three-eighths — then these eminences grises do not want to oust Johnson. They want to own him and run him.
To clarify, the people whom Tony might be talking about are not very bright. The Anglophones among them doubtless see themselves as the heirs of Northcliffe — second time as farce, third time as …well, you complete the simile. The Slavophones cannot understand the environment that they are (again ,if Tony is right) attempting to operate in. If they are real and if they are serious, they are going to have to escalate to wetwork very quickly, because nothing else will show any results.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: NYT’s reverse Midas touch.
Yarrow
@Frank Wilhoit: I know it’s Cummings but is someone supporting him in this effort? Oligarchs? And in this case the point of what I read was that it seemed that they wanted to destroy Boris Johnson himself.
Gin & Tonic
If you’re not tired of the subject, here’s a nice, evocative essay about Kyiv, history, the language issue and related stuff. Pretty short, too – shorter than some comments here by some of our foreign correspondents.
Kalakal
@Tony Jay: Something that occurs to me is that this is coming from outside the cabinet. Bunter’s chums may be talentless grifters who hate each other and want his job but all of them are blindsided by this, desperately calculating the odds, should they be ‘loyal’ or should they abandon ship? It’s obvious that each day is catching them by surprise. Even if you’re very careful you don’t get to the top in the Tory party without at least a few things on your record you’d like to keep buried and Johnson has always been a sloppy mess.
The stuff that is coming out, the timing of it is devastating. I almost have to admire whoever is orchestrating this. First leaks about mps corruption leading to the Paterson imbroglio then ones directly affecting Johnson (flat decorating), then a perfectly timed escalation of reveals about parties, each one shredding the defences hastily erected for the last, then pause, let him get a false sense of optimism, then more boozey parties, switch to woofgate and while he struggles with that suddenly Arcuri hoves into view cooperating with the authorities over his time as mayor. Even the Met seem to have finally got the hint, he’s now the subject of 16 incidents that are under criminal investigation. And today the Gray report, even in it’s edited version it’s devastating, that woman has a genius for damning by understatement and omission.
I think Cummings may be doing a lot of the fronting for this, but he’s got the backing of some very rich, very well connected people who have decided Johnson has outlived his utility and they’d like to replace him with a more stable puppet and offload all the shit accumulated by the Tories over the last decade on him. For a start extending Brexit by leaving the common trade agreements was an unnecessary stupidity of Johnsons and its costing very rich people billions (Brexit by itself was fine with them, it only fucked over the peasants. I think the goal is a shiny new look Tory govt in a few weeks, boosted to the heavens by Murdoch, Dacre etc and all ills swept into the memory hole along with Bunter
Tony Jay
@Kalakal:
Yup. All of this.
I’d just add that once the first few leaks drew blood and the News Media got the memo that Johnson was no longer off-limits for bad press, creatures down the food chain slowly started to realise they could push back and – not – get crushed by the unified Establishment. I think that’s what the revelations about bullying and blackmail are: Tory MPs pissed off with having to defend the fact that their constituencies were getting fucked over no longer feared retribution for speaking out.
All this just to prise one lazy solipsist from his dream gap-year job.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Have some good news, with the caveat that from all appearances it is fair to assumer Machin’s brain is full of dope-addled squirrels
Seems like the reporter is, quite reasonably, sounding him out as to whether he’s going to take the bait
his buddy Collins tossed out to him
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Thanks. I hope that chant continues until the Russians’ heads explode. ?
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Agreed on all points.
Kalakal
@Tony Jay: Someone who doesn’t seem to be on the same hymn sheet is Richard Desmond. The Express is still Boosting for Boris. Then again Desmond is hardly a member of the Old Boys Club
Another Scott
@Baud:
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: he’s not available, but look for a helpful, totally objective, totally not Putin-authored post from cermet!
Steve in the ATL
@Tony Jay: omg. Can I subscribe to your Only Fans account?
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL: Actually I am, but was reading from the bottom.
Ambassador Brink is a respected career Foreign Service Officer. I don’t know her, but I’m sure she’ll be fine, as would almost any such officer. Problems occur with “political” appointees, but luckily Ukraine hasn’t been saddled with one.
The Pale Scot
@Brachiator:
He’s admitted that acting as a simpleton clown is a schtick that has and is working for him.
Soprano2
@NotMax: The whale watching tour we did on the west side of Maui was one of the coolest things we did on our trip. I have a bunch of pics of whale tails and backs, and one where two of them came up to the surface together.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Brachiator: Yeah, you’re right, stop loving, give up.
I’m not. The US is already involved in a cold civil war, in my opinion.
I believe the plan was Trump (sorry for profanity, but it’s needed) would get Ukraine to open an investigation ,which would allow Bill Barr to open an investigation.
That right there? That’s cold civil war. Civil authorities are acting under color of law to deprive people of their rights, and liberty, and life. That’s an attorney general, in blatant violation of the Constitution; that’s a President committing the most egregious plot imaginable, and that, my friends, means we are not “rivals” any more. We’re enemies.
Could I be wrong? Sure. It might not have started… yet.
Now, me, I know how you win a civil war. You make sure you’ve got so many people on your side, the other side can’t flourish. Any revolutionary cell gets ratted out.
You don’t do that by hate.You do it by love. You give people something to dream about, something to hope. And you don’t just let these horrible folks (I mean the political press) go unpunished.
There are so, so many examples of times when they’ve betrayed the public trust. And there’s so many lovely Republican examples of evil.
And if we’re going to have to pants every fucking reporter the editors and publishers throw at us, I’m game. I’m *really* good at this. And yeah, too much in here, got a lot to learn, a lot of do.
But I’m ready to flay the metaphorical ass of everyone showing one right now. And if we all want to build up the energy enough, we can change the narrative.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Captain C: Thank you – I’m pretty sure I know that joke :-)