To me, a then-unreformed doom-scroller, Donald Trump’s 2021 ejection from Twitter was like the cessation of an airhorn that had been blowing in my face for five years straight. Tucker Carlson getting shit-canned by Fox News was a JV version of that phenomenon.
According to several outlets, including Vanity Fair, Carlson is anxious to get back into the wingnut media mix, but first he has to get out of his contract with Fox News, and they have no incentive to play ball since there’s every reason to believe he’ll torch them from a new perch:
“Carlson is preparing to unleash allies to attack Fox News in an effort to bully the network into letting him work for—or start—a right-wing rival,” Axios reported Sunday, citing a “close Carlson friend” who said that while the ex-Fox host initially said he wanted to be “quiet and clean” in negotiating his exit with Fox, “Now, we’re going from peacetime to Defcon 1. His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom.”…
Carlson’s current contract expires in January 2025, after the presidential election; to get back on the air before then, he “needs Fox News to agree to a deal that would allow him to work elsewhere,” the New York Times reported, noting that such a deal “could require him to forfeit millions of dollars he is owed by the network.”
Rolling Stone reports that Carlson’s ouster may have resulted from his decision to try to get the network’s PR chief, Irina Briganti, a holdover from the Roger Ailes days, fired.
In pleading his case, Carlson argued Briganti spent too much time badgering on-air talent and the channel’s personnel; that she was generally incompetent and mean-spirited; and that she regularly engaged in dirty tricks against him and other hosts and contributors, when her job was ostensibly to protect them. One current Fox source with knowledge of the matter described the Carlson-Briganti feud as an intra-network “death match.”…
Word of Carlson’s attempt to get her fired got back to Briganti, exacerbating an already terrible relationship. Briganti “hates all the talent,” the former Fox News commentator says. “She was so disgusted by the level of fucked up idiots who work there, in her opinion, and had to clean up their messes and their overblown egos.”
I assume Briganti is an awful person since she’s the head PR flack at Fox News. But her disgust with the “fucked up idiots who work” at the network is certainly relatable. Anyhoo, I hope the Murdoch scumbags exercise every prerogative to keep the human boat shoe muzzled until January 2025 — and that their respective “teams” drop bombshell after bombshell on each other for the next 18 months.
Open thread.
different-church-lady
LetThemFight.gif in slow motion.
Miss Bianca
“Human boat shoe”. Heh.
That’s it, that’s all I have to offer – kudos on your – as always – impeccable phrasing, BC.
different-church-lady
“There’s a right way to undermine democracy, and you idiots are fucking it up for all of us!”
Betty Cracker
@Miss Bianca: I stole it from someone — can’t remember who!
twbrandt
This is the first (and probably the last) time I have been in favor of non-competes.
Raoul Paste
What a den of vipers.
bbleh
I am far beyond caring other than idle rooting for injuries, but it does raise the question: I wonder (also idly) how many people — apart from the principals — DO care, and why, and what their feelings are about it. I mean, arguably it’s a major soap opera, played out on a big stage, and there must be people invested in it. Tucker stans like Rush’s dittoheads, probably some Tucker-haters, maybe some partisans of other “hosts” (same word as used for disease carriers — coincidence?), probably some other minor claques and tribes. I bet someone could get at least a Master’s thesis out of it.
Scout211
Oh, let this be so!
ETA: Just rooting for ego injuries, to be clear. 😉
SmallAxe
Human boat shoe is too funny and spot on
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Similar feelings about an exchange that was reported in the E, Jean Carroll case, TFG makes his announcement that he’s coming back “to confront Carroll”, the judge says to Tacopina “I thought your client wasn’t going to be in court” and Tacopina replies, “Your Honor, you know what I’m dealing here,”
Brachiator
I sincerely doubt that Rupert Murdoch cares what Carlson wants.
I am almost mildly curious to see how this plays out.
I also wonder whether Fox News might dump a few more anchors in the near future.
Michael Bersin
Does it make me a bad person if I root for injuries for everyone involved? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Alison Rose
I had to look this up because I remembered a terrific line about Carlson from John Oliver. This is in response to a clip where Carlson disingenuously asks for someone to explain to him “in very clear language” what a white supremacist is:
Accurate.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: One of the O’Bros described the other one that way a couple of years ago.
Bex
@Miss Bianca: Re boat shoes: Tucker is Mr. Sperry Topsider.
PaulWartenberg
I’ve just returned from a weekend visit to Daytona for my nephew’s graduation from Embry Riddle University. He’s got his degree in aeronautical engineering and a commission as 2nd Lt in the Air Force. Big day for my family.
MattF
Carlson has always been pitting the players in the Fox News cast against each other— that’s his way of operating within his working environment. His present threats are just more of the same. His behavioral repertoire isn’t changing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bex: Speaking as a person who is literally wearing a pair of Sperrys right now, fuck you. No offense intended, of course.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Open Thread: I have a piece up at John Scalzi’s blog today.
C Stars
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Whoa, cool! Congratulations!
Jeffro
Carlson knows if he doesn’t get back in the game soon, the RWNJ mob will just move on to the next psycho commentator. He saw it happen firsthand with Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, and others.
Betty Cracker
Just found out a friend who works at a Florida daily won a Pulitzer! So happy for her! We complain about the media a lot here, and with good reason because so many Beltway media celebrities are actively harming democracy. But there are thousands of non-celebrity journalists who work their butts off to report important stories, and most never get the recognition they deserve.
narya
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wooo!!!!!!
eclare
@Miss Bianca:
Yes, I am so stealing “human boat shoe!”
trollhattan
If only Fox News were HQd in California, the non-compete would be illegal here.
Pity.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
For reasons unrelated to national or state politics, I’ve recently had the opportunity to read several articles written by Florida reporters and they have all been top-notch. I don’t know why that is, but I hope it’s something that DeSantis isn’t able to destroy.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: Nice! Can only imagine how lonely a proper journalist must feel, living in a state where the government is actively engaged in ending the entire profession.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
I think John also described him as someone who belonged in a Get Out garden party.
eclare
@PaulWartenberg:
Congratulations! Big news!
Bex
@Omnes Omnibus: None taken. I didn’t have any fucks left to give, so thanks for at least one.
Old School
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Wait. So Balloon Juice didn’t make you sign a non-compete for this weekend’s Authors in Our Midst?
(Congrats!)
Ripley
@Omnes Omnibus:
I was wearing Sperrys at work today. Yes, fuck that person! Without offense, of course.
Jeffro
Btw since this is an open thread, I have a quick Slice of Wingnut Insanity to share…
Some years ago, just to see what would happen & what would come through, I got myself subscribed to an education-related RWNJ group’s mailing list. They don’t seem to post stuff too often (or if they do, it doesn’t come through in my email very often – and I don’t visit their website) but once in a while a real doozy shows up in my inbox.
Here’s a snippet from what showed up last week – an op-ed supposedly written by disgraced former general Flynn(!) (yes really!) (in what’s supposed to be an education group!):
What’s striking is…this is nothing nuttier than what we see on Fox and NewsMax every day, right? Besides the idea of nullifying federal laws, that is.
The whole party, even the suburban mom coffee klatches, has been Flynn-i-fied. Just crazy.
Maxim
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Congrats!
@Betty Cracker: Awesome! I do think a lot about the non-Beltway, non-celebrity journalists who are still working hard at actual reporting. They need all the recognition and support they can get.
Jackie
@twbrandt: Me, too. Tucker desperately wants to be kingmaker of the 2024 GQP nomination. His contract doesn’t expire until Dec ‘25. If FAUX holds him to it, Tucker will become “Tucker who?” I’m rooting for FAUX.
eclare
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congratulations!
Maxim
@PaulWartenberg: Congratulations to your nephew! Is he thinking NASA long term, or does he want an AF career?
rikyrah
The non-compete clause is the non-compete clause.
I’m not sure Rupert is willing to play nice.
When has he ever?
Baud
@Jeffro:
I hope Flynn is right.
MattF
@Jeffro: In case anyone was wondering if Flynn is genuinely nuts.
Betty Cracker
@PaulWartenberg: One of my uncles went there years ago; it’s a fine institution — congrats to your nephew!
Baud
@MattF: I think he is, but this doesn’t prove it. He would write the same thing if he were a grifter of people who are nuts.
Elizabelle
@Baud: in all honesty, I have my doubts, they legitimately won it in 2016
Spanky
Not entirely off the OP topic, fuck this guy. (Via WaPo) –
Alison Rose
@eclare: Yes :P He (and his writers) are so good with these insults. I think my fave was when he called Laura Ingraham a “sentient plantation wedding”.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congrats!
Baud
@Spanky: Everyone knows how the Nazis attempted to defend themselves after WWII on the theory that they were just following orders. Few realize that they also attempted to get a lighter sentence based on their leadership in the Nazi party.
Anyway
OT- we sometimes talk about Blue slips and whether D Sens treat judicial noms differently than R Sens. Got this from LGM/HuffPo — looks like Durbin is still playing nice.
Benw
@PaulWartenberg: congrats!
@Dorothy A. Winsor: and congrats!
@Betty Cracker: awesome!
And in conclusion, sit down, Tuck. Be humble.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Awesome! Have it bookmarked to read later.
@Betty Cracker: And awesome news about your friend as well! Thank God for FL reporters – they’re the only reason I feel hopeful that your state may turn itself around some day.
(Well, aside from you and Adam, that is.)
azlib
My uneducated guess is Carlson would have to walk away from the millions he is owed under the termination agreement which was probably in his contract which he negotiated with Fox. I have a feeling he is reluctant to do that.
Craig
@bbleh: John Oliver probably cares. He’s got jokes to write about Tuckums, but not till after the WGA comes back.
Spanky
@Spanky: Wait! Time off for founding the Oaf Keepers??? Why yes. Yes indeed.
The judge should take that in to account, then nail his balls to the jailhouse door.
Anyway
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congratulations on the book! Look forward to reading it.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
Hahaha…
Kathleen
@Scout211: Has anyone seen both of them after that meeting? For some reason I can see Musk having Tucker for dinner and marketing the product “Soylent Mean” on Twitter.
TriassicSands
i’m stuck on that last word.
Carlson. Hannity. Kelly. O’Reilly. Dobbs. Bartiromo. Et al. Past and present.
Talent? Usually that word is applied as something positive. I look at the short list above and think of all the other Fox News personalities and the word “talent” never occurs to me.
For example, I would never write (about TFG) — “He has a talent for lying.” or “He has a talent for corruption.”
Manyakitty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: fantastic! I love when Scalzi promotes other writers. He seems like legit good people.
Kathleen
@PaulWartenberg: Congratulations! I used to work at the Embry Riddle Cincinnati satellite campus years ago. Loved the students I met.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: super cool!! Good to know there are still good journalists out there.
Miss Bianca
Speaking of totally off the hook things floating around out there…has anyone else seen this allegedly AI-generated pizza commercial? I know the Writer’s Guild of America has expressed fears about AI taking their jobs, but…if this is the best that AI can currently come up with, I’d say those fears are…exaggerated.
I also hear this one is even more horrendous with sound on. “Like family…but with more cheese!”
Manyakitty
@PaulWartenberg: fantastic! Nice to see some hope for the future.
Baud
In solidarity with Hollywood writers, I’m going on strike until Balloon Juice commenters are paid the same as front pagers.
Manyakitty
@Spanky: wait, so the argument is that he should get credit for founding a criminal organization? Far. Out.
Ann Marie
@PaulWartenberg: Congratulations!
Geminid
@azlib: Reports are that outlets like NewsMax have offered Carlson money as good or better than what he’ll get from Fox. They might not be able to pay that out of additional revenues, but I can see a Mercer- or Thiel-type picking up the difference just to stir up trouble.
Carlson’s popularity might be a depreciating asset, though. He won’t have nearly the attraction in 6 months or a year that he has now. He has to break that contract ASAP, and Fox’s own interests require them to jam Carlson if possible.
karen marie
@PaulWartenberg: Congratulations!
I had a friend who attended and graduated from Embry Riddle back in the first half of the 1980s. Her father was an airline pilot, and it was her life’s dream to be one too. She was a bit let down by it because, she told me, flying is really very boring what with all the blue skies and nothing to look at when you’re at altitude.
sdhays
It seems to me that there has to be some kind of clause in the contract that allows Fox to fire him “for cause”, and considering the little we already know, it seems like Fox would have a pretty good case if Tuckems wants to fight.
But IANAL.
Jackie
@Spanky: Haven’t prisoners been dispatched under supervision to help fight forest fires?
kalakal
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yay!
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: It was awful. The tag line was actually the best part.
kalakal
@PaulWartenberg: Congratulations to your nephew! Big day indeed!
Geminid
@sdhays: In the case of a host with less of a following, Fox might have fired Carlson for cause. They don’t seem to have fired him for anything though, but just took him off the air. That may be because they forsaw him working for a competitor, and wanted to keep him off the air even if they have to pay his contract.
Ed. Carlson’s attorney is making some big talk about how Fox can’t keep his client from working for another broadcaster. I’m not sure the attorney can back that up, if Fox is determined.
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: With matching cargo shorts I presume?
(ducks)
Ruckus
@Michael Bersin:
No it does not.
Turn about is fair play. At least in their world, just mind that you take off your shoes before going in the house, there is no way you can play their game without stepping in shit.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@C Stars: @narya: @Old School: @Maxim: @eclare: @rikyrah: @Benw: @MissBianca: @Anyway: @Manyakitty:
Whoa. I went to my book club and came back to find all these nice congratulations. Thank you. Scalzi is very generous to other writers. He’s a good guy.
Book Club was interesting. We read MAD HONEY by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Boylan. One of the book’s narrators is a trans character, and it was interesting to see the conservative members fumble around trying to talk about her. One woman repeatedly said she “blamed the schools.” About 2/3 of the members sounded much more open. They were encountering stuff they didn’t necessarily understand, but they wanted to learn.
ETA: Moderation? Oh, too many links. OK. Moderate away.
kalakal
@Betty Cracker: Excellent! As you say, always good to see recognition going to real journalists rather than stenographers
Ruckus
@Bex:
Come on, Sperry Topsiders are a lot better than that. He’s more like that shit that Michael Bersin is going to have to scrape off the bottom of his shoes before he goes in the house…
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jeffro:
It’s all 100% projection. Incredible
Suzanne
My heart, it bleeds.
I mean, yes, it sounds like a terrible job. They’re all terrible.
Rod Dreher wants Tucker to run for president.
Kay
Sorry but he’s just dumb. He’s a dope. It’s no more complicated than that.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@kalakal:
You fool! Look what you’ve done! /s
karen marie
@Geminid: I lose track of who’s being sued. Is NewsMax one of those being sued by Dominion and/or Smartmatic?
Omnes Omnibus
@kalakal: Dear god.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Miss Bianca:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Is it like a shitpost somebody did or is it for real?
ETA: Just looked it up. It’s a shitpost made by a redditor:
Via Today.com
eclare
@karen marie:
I still remember taking a flight in a small plane years ago. The cabin door was open, and we could all see the pilot and co-pilot reading newspapers.
UncleEbeneezer
@Jeffro: Michael Flynn’s batshit “Army of God“
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
rupert kicked carlson out the door without releasing him from his contract. And has the money to make life completely, horribly crappy for him. And carlson knows this, probably better than anyone else. You can’t hear it but I’m laughing my butt off.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ruckus: Sometimes, crappy people get what they deserve. Or at least part of it.
sdhays
@Geminid: But if they fired him for cause, couldn’t they still enforce a non-compete since he’s the one who broke the contract?
Doug R
@twbrandt:
I’m generally not in favor of NDAs and non-competes BUT for TV/movies just before release date to save spoilers AND actual corporate secrets that you’re bothering to trademark or patent.
HOWEVER if a media outlet is willing to pay the $ of a regular salary for a short period, I think a non-compete is fair.
Anonymous At Work
Campaign fundraising question:
I do plan to give to Biden/Harris now and during the general election. When is optimal timing and pattern (several smaller or one larger) as far as the campaign operations go?
Geminid
@karen marie: I think NewsMax is being sued by the voting machine companies, but I’ve lost track too.
Baud
@Kay: Is he talking about Tennessee where the legislature kicked out two members for protesting about inaction in response to the massacre?
Ruckus
@Spanky:
I sort of doubt the judge will go anywhere near that leniently for him, being the ringleader. And of course it is their job to ask for everything, doesn’t mean they expect it.
Baud
I wonder if my active participation on this blog would be a basis for a reduced sentence.
kalakal
@Miss Bianca: Thats… remarkably awful.
Ruckus
@Spanky:
I am beginning to like your style.
With an airgun nailer. Or drive them with a sledge, either way gets the job and the message across.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
What’s the context?
ETA: What Baud above referenced?
Elon has got some fucking nerve complaining about the people protesting the Tenn leg expulsions when many of those protesters were teens who face the risk of a school shooting every day
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@kalakal:
You might even say remarkably cheesy
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yep. But giving him what he deserves would be illegal. At the least.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: The whining about this is particularly bad, too – everyone and their mother is pointing out that there was an enormous protest – it even got 2 democrats ejected from the state congress!
Elon’s defenders are saying that the protestors were protesting guns and not “trans ideology” or “the killing of christians” and therefore he’s totally right and libs are hypocrites.
I don’t know precisely what to say to that – it’s so transparently bad faith and racist.
Ruckus
@sdhays:
It likely depends on the original contract. I’d bet, that as rupert was paying a rather large salary he had every possible clause in there and as he was being paid a rather larger salary, he had no trouble signing it. Some employees can only learn the hard way…..
brantl
@twbrandt: Non-competes don’t work when you’re fired, unpaid, If you’re still being paid, as Tuckems is, that’s an entirely different thing. You can’t go work for someone else while they’re still paying you.
craigie
@Jeffro: I am intrigued by the concept of “illegal federal laws”. Would like more information about these chimera.
frosty
@Omnes Omnibus: Second that, Omnes. Sperrys were my business casual shoe and my all around slob summer shoe. Been wearing them for decades.
Have you ever noticed they are the worst thing ever for boats? They don’t keep the water out, they’re slippery on deck when they’re wet, and they always come untied so you can trip on the laces and go overboard.
@Bex: No offense intended from me, either!
pat
the senile buffoon somehow ends up with a second term,
Wait, he’s not talking about trump??
eta: Guess it was a while back that this quote appeared at 43, some screed from flynn…
eta2: 33, not 43
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
I think you said what needs to be said about it.
There’s nothing about “trans ideology” to protest since there’s no ideology I’m aware of other than the principle of individual dignity.
And we don’t distinguish between the killing of Christians and the killing of everyone else, which is what the protest about guns is about.
West of the Rockies
@Brachiator:
Tucker’s “team”… what, maybe a couple dozen people? Versus Fox News — hundreds of people…
FOAD, Tucky.
karen marie
@Geminid: If that’s the case, there’s not going to be enough loose change to pay Mr. Boat Shoe what he’ll lose if he voids his Fox contract.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: All better now!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard:
@Baud:
Does this guy think this is going to help him sell more Teslas? Conservatives are not going to be EV customers until they’re forced to be by widespread EV adoption, likely too late for Tesla
karen marie
@Baud: They win when they get you arguing about semantics.
Can we have a Balloon Juice teeshirt to raise funds to push for gun safety that says “It’s The Guns, Stupid”?
I did a quick google and didn’t see that phrase on a teeshirt. I’d def buy one.
West of the Rockies
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I read your entry. Loved hearing another creative process! I will order shortly!
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’m buying an EV. I don’t know if I would have chosen Tesla even if Musk was a good guy, but him being a fascist definitely ruled out the possibility.
@karen marie: Yes, they take advantage of liberals’ desire to debate. It’s useful to give ourselves talking points about why their BS is BS, but getting drawn into a serious debate with them is bad news because they are not bound by the same rules of honesty and consistency as we are.
Roger Moore
@Jackie:
Here in California, prisoners are an important component in our wildfire fighting system. The inmates have to volunteer for the program*, and it’s only available to inmates who have good enough behavior in prison to justify being under reduced supervision. There are substantial perks for participating, both because life in the fire camps is nicer than in even a low-security prison and because prisoners who are successful as firefighters get better treatment after leaving prison. They can ask for their criminal record to be expunged and have an excellent chance of becoming regular employees of CalFire.
*Though how much any inmate really has freedom of choice in a case like that is questionable.
Baud
@Roger Moore: I’ve wondered about that. We probably would support giving prisoners opportunities, but every opportunity comes with a risk of compulsion, so how do you balance the two? I guess the fire fighting thing is state-run at least, so the profit motive is absent, unless other prisoner work programs.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@different-church-lady:
See also: Cheney, Liz; Romney, Mitt
Jeffro
same here!
Manafort didn’t share all that swing-state voter data with the Russians for nothing.
Roger Moore
@Doug R:
There’s a big difference between an NDA and a non-compete. An NDA covers only specific information, so you can keep working as long as you don’t share whatever trade secrets you picked up at your old job. It’s an appropriate thing for, e.g. preventing someone from leaking spoilers before a dramatic work is released. Non-competes are mostly bullshit, since they massively constrain employees from working in their chosen field. They do make some sense for very high-level employees. As an example, it made sense for Unilever to include a non-compete clause that prevented Ben and Jerry from founding a new ice cream company for some length of time after they sold out.
Jinchi
I get the feeling that all right wingers hate one another these days. Certainly in the case of TFG, I don’t think a single person will mourn his passing. Not his kids, not his wives, none of the myriad Republicans who go groveling for his approval.
mrmoshpotato
@PaulWartenberg: Please stay on topic! We’re talking about Faux News trash fighting each other! 😁
A big congratulations to your nephew!
Jeffro
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): it’s always projection with them, always.
@UncleEbeneezer: batshit indeed. I wonder when we’ll find out what tipped Flynn over the edge? Some weird sense of holy war? Being fired by a Black president? Accepting $$$ from Putin and then being owned by him?
craigie: I think it’s kinda like all this “woke” stuff, where the definition is “stuff I don’t like”, EXTREMELY flexibly defined
Omnes Omnibus
@frosty: They are better on a boat than loafers.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I think the key way of avoiding the danger of a profit motive is to pay prisoners a market wage for whatever they’re doing as part of their rehabilitation program. Some of the money could be used to pay for restitution, and maybe there ought to be deductions for room and board at a market rate. But other than that the money could either go to help support the inmate’s family or be kept in escrow so they have some resources when they get out. I suspect recidivism would be a lot lower for prisoners who leave prison with job skills and a nest egg than for ones who are tossed unceremoniously to their own devices.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think Musk is just using Twitter as his own personal blog and affirmation chamber. The side effect of promoting blue checks and being very friendly to white supremacists (and bots) means that he’s going to constantly be affirmed in all his wild-ass racisms, and he needs that. It doesn’t have anything to do with Tesla or any kind of business strategy.
He’s basically a giant anchor around twitter, but no one has really come up with a good enough competitor yet that has sufficient user volume so the product continues. If anything else ever gets its shit together, I think twitter falls over.
Jeffro
Getting back on topic and back to Betty’s original post: all of the parodies and satire about Carlson’s departure leaving this huge void for the RWNJs…”who will tell me who to hate NOW?”…were completely spot-on.
It’s a little bit inside-baseball-y, but I sure would love me some Ohio diner safaris for once. Interview those folks, snooze media! Ask them how they feel about Tucker getting the shaft!
Heck, even Brett “I’m Good With Using Welfare Funds For My Daughter’s Volleyball Gym” Favre was cranky about Tucker’s firing recently. Go put those microphones in front of America’s best, media types!!
karen marie
@Roger Moore: “At a market rate.”
Few places have SROs anymore. What’s the going rate for a bed in a shared studio of six by eight feet?
Baud
@MisterForkbeard: When the downfall comes, it will happen rapidly.
Ken
@MisterForkbeard: From my point of view, twitter fell over sometime today. When I click on any of the BJ links, or try to visit the site, the browser (Chrome) gives me an ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS. All HTTP 302, all the time. Clearing cookies (as suggested) and cache doesn’t help.
The Lodger
@Omnes Omnibus: Deck shoes are designed to protect wooden decks. Same theory as bowling shoes, and almost as attractive.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: btw speaking of Favre and welfare scams…the reporter who broke the story just won a Pulitzer for local reporting!
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This is definitely Dorothy A. Winsor week on the internet! Go you
oh, and I updated your Authors Post from Sunday to include the A. :-)
Baud
@WaterGirl: Is that like Infrastructure Week?
eclare
@Jeffro:
Awesome!
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yes, but with less infrastructure.
Baud
@WaterGirl: And more Dorothy!
Baud
@Jeffro:
👍
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: And her little dog too?
WaterGirl
@Baud: hahaha
I wish I had thought to add that.
@Omnes Omnibus:
And that!
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: and it actually happens!
twbrandt
@brantl: right, I understand that. It sounds like if Carlson were to resign or otherwise terminate the contract, he’d be prevented from going to another network or starting his own.
prostratedragon
[email protected]: citing his military service and his founding and leadership of the right-wing extremist group Oath Keepers.
A masterpiece of missing the point.
Ruckus
@karen marie:
A flying career is 20 yrs of going through the motions, with possible random 15 minute bits of the worst thing imaginable, which far more often than not ends up being – just another 15 minutes. I’ve heard that it seems rather glamorous for the first year or so then it’s just another job, with a rather costly screw up clause.
Shalimar
@Manyakitty: Credit for leading the Oath Keepers in times of “civil unrest.” Which is exactly what he got convicted for.
karen marie
@Jeffro: I’m really impressed by Tate Reeves. He was lt gov under Bryant when this shit went down but somehow he’s managed to avoid any stink getting on him – that I’ve seen.
Focusing on Favre has annoyed me, because he merely took the money. It was Republican state officials who gave it to him – and others — and schemed to keep their pilfering of funds secret.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@West of the Rockies: I hope you enjoy the book.
karen marie
@Ruckus: I deliberately didn’t include what happened to my friend. Forty plus years later and it still makes me blanch. She didn’t survive.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: I’m a little embarrassed at how omnipresent I am this week, but it makes my publisher happy. And people are generally forgiving.
Another Scott
@Ken: I’m seeing the same things. Opening a twitter link in a private browsing tab doesn’t help either.
Supposedly Melon is deleting dead accounts. Maybe doing so broke everything (again).
Cheers,
Scott.
Bex
@Ripley: That would be me. Now I have two fucks to give. Thanks!
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: That one I did think of, but didn’t write it because we really did have infrastructure week with Biden. :-)
TooTallTom
@Ken:
The Birdy site broke for me too, on Firefox. Moving to MS-Edge solved my issue.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I can’t speak for Scalzi, but we are all very happy for you here, so don’t even worry about that for even half a second.
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: and I breathed happily for a moment, thinking of all President Biden has accomplished so far. And then…
*Reality has entered the chat
And my shoulders clench right back up to my ears.
mg_65
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Glass Girl looks amazing and I bought on Kindle — very affordable. I’m looking forward to reading it.