Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

The revolution will be supervised.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

I was promised a recession.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Commentary / Our Failed Media Experiment / Adios, Jackass

Adios, Jackass

by | 257 Comments

This post is in: 

Licht is done:

Chris Licht, the former television producer who oversaw a brief and chaotic run as the chairman of CNN, is out at the network.

David Zaslav, the chief executive of CNN’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, informed staff on Wednesday morning that he had met with Mr. Licht and that he was leaving, effective immediately.

Mr. Licht’s 13-month run at CNN was marked by one controversy after another. He got off to a bumpy start even before he had officially started when he oversaw the shuttering of the costly CNN+ streaming service at the request of its network’s new owners, who were skeptical about a stand-alone digital product. The cuts resulted in scores of layoffs.

“For a number of reasons things didn’t work out, and that’s unfortunate,” Mr. Zaslav said, according to a recording of his remarks. “It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”

Because of my always sparkling disposition and recognition that Zaslav is a complete and total idiot who thinks that the Flash is the greatest superhero movie ever made and that it was a good idea to give a commencement speech in the midst of a writer’s strike only to be drowned out with boos the entire time, I fully expect this out of touch corporate hack to pick someone worse. It’s just his nature.

But since they still have a chance, let me give them this novel idea. Do good journalism. Do the basics, do them well, and audiences will follow. Stop trying to chase gimmicks and trends and give MAGATs sugar highs with unmonitored Trump town halls, and invest in reporters. Stop trying to balance opinions, and just present the news. The ratings will follow.

Also, before you misfist have a god damned aneurysm, I fixed the errant bolding from Mr. Andersen’s post below, so you can stop screaming in the comments that “sOmEThiNg iS DifFErenT.” I didn’t even check the comments but I know you did, Baud. You son of a bitch.

Reader Interactions

257Comments

  1. 1.

    Doug R

    TBF James Gunn who wrote and directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and The Suicide Squad (the good R-rated one) also thinks The Flash might be the best superhero movie as well.

    Of course he also works for the Warner/DC part of DiscoveryWarner but he does know his comic book movies.

  2. 2.

    Scout211

    Thanks for fixing the front page bolding, Mr. Cole.

    We raked Chris Licht and Discovery over the coals downstairs but it will be fun to read more in this dedicated thread.  :)

    In perusing the many news articles, I see that so far the only news service that states Chris Licht was fired is NPR. All the other headlines use words like “leaving,” “out,” “stepping down.”

    He was fired.

  3. 3.

    Ruckus

    John, that’s very good advice to CNN.

    It’s so good advice I doubt seriously that it would ever register with them. I’d bet, ten cents, that this advice will never be accepted at Crappy News Network. Because your advice is about their work, not their bank accounts. For most big, and many small companies the first concept of the their work is not the product but the bank account is. The work is the means to the end, rather than the product. And it shows. I know we’ve talked about Disney here a fair bit over the last while and that is a company that the product always comes first. They like money, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that the money comes from their product, it isn’t the first priority. It’s why they are as good at what they do that they are still making money almost 70 yrs after they started. We had a family friend whose daughter was an employee the day they opened. They have stayed true to the concept from day one.

  5. 5.

    RepubAnon

    Ding, Dong, the Licht is dead!

    Perhaps he’ll be hosting a seminar on the importance of journalists not taking a position on the Earth’s shape…

  6. 6.

    Tony Jay

    Zaslav –

    “Dammit, Chris. You were supposed to be the Chosen One!”

    Disembodied Voice of Roger Ailes –

    “There is another….”

    Zaslav –

    “But who has years of experience providing a balanced, independent view of America’s political scene as well as tons of contacts in the buis… OM freakin’ G, Tucker’s free, isn’t he?!?”

    Disembodied voice of Roger Ailes –

    “Excccccellent….“

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    BTW can any Mac users help me out? I got my new laptop a little over a month ago, and I’ve just noticed when trying to type my previous comment that I can’t get the letter accent menu to pop up by pressing and holding a key. Instead, it just repeats the letter. I tried Googling and nothing I can find actually works, and I can’t find a setting relating to this in the system settings. Any ideas?

  10. 10.

    Old School

    @Alison Rose:

    “Baud, you son of a bitch” is gonna be my new reaction phrase à la “Sure Jan”.

    It may have legs, but I don’t believe Baud actually commented on the formatting error.

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    I haven’t actually watched CNN (or any other news network) for many years. I get my news from the various news networks’ websites (and here, of course).

    I still think that CNN does an adequate job of reporting breaking news and top stories of the day on their website.  Especially now that Cilliza is not despoiling the front page with his nonsense. But after you read the top stories, it’s not that great. In fact, its awful. But at least you can choose what to read or not read when you read stories online.

    I am so over watching and listening to talking heads and expecting to get the facts.  Ugh.

  13. 13.

    different-church-lady

    @Alison Rose: Which operating system?

    Check in accessibility control panel, they’ve been tucking a lot of stuff in there lately.

    Temporary fix: find the way to show the keyboard menu in the menu bar. It will show you the option-key combos that also will give you accents. (Example: option-e will provide the opportunity for é, á, etc.)

  15. 15.

    lee

    I’m curious to know how Licht went from Colbert to CNN. Is he just a ratings chaser that miscalculated with CNN? Was he behind the increase in ratings for Colbert?

  16. 16.

    Hilbertsubspace

    @Scout211: I believe the people who fired him understand that he failed, but not WHY he failed.  So I expect them to do random adjustments and shuffling until they get lucky.

  17. 17.

    Hilbertsubspace

    Wait, I thought Licht was the one who told Colbert to not talk about politics ever.  Later changing his mind to, “whatever”.

    This was meant as a reply to lee comment #15.

  22. 22.

    E.

    I’d almost forgotten about that little puke Cilizza. So it is with renewed joy I remember his firing.

  24. 24.

    cain

    @Old School: I have heard at least one who said it was the greatest super movie thus far. I’m intrigued to see it since it encompasses all my fav movies and their actors. I would have preferred Christian Bale instead of Ben Affleck – maybe another universe.

  25. 25.

    patrick II

    What struck me about Mr. Licht was his stated objective of having CNN become a source of “objective truth” and early on fired Brian Stetler and canceled his show “Reliable Source”, which was the single show on CNN that made the most earnest attempt to find the objective truth.

    Mr. Licht has no idea what “objective truth” is.  I think he was earnest about it and sadly that says something worse about him than if he was just a cynic.  His mind is afloat in propaganda, wokeness is bad, and if Democrats say climate change is real then the Republican view that it isn’t are alternative facts that need an equal, if not predominant, hearing to get at his “objective truth”.

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    @Scout211: Well, yes. That’s what I said I was trying to do in the comment you’re responding to, all that page does is tell me how it USED to work on my old laptop. My point is it doesn’t do it anymore. When I press and hold a letter, it just repeats the letter. The menu does not come up.

  29. 29.

    cain

    @Scout211: I stopped watching 24 hour news after the whole CNN missing white girl thing back in the late 90s? It was so over the top. I’m triggered when I see Wolf Blitzer as well.

    The death of journalism can be directly linked to 24 hour news channels.

  30. 30.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    Go to the Apple site and click support at the top. You will find towards the bottom of the screen on the left a place to click for how to. There is a lot of how to if you click the user/essentials guide.

  32. 32.

    HeleninEire

    Licht’s firing is yet another example of “Everything Trump touches dies.”

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    Mr. Zaslav said, according to a recording of his remarks. “It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”

    If you really were to “take full responsibility,” asshole, you’d resign and refuse any severance package.

  36. 36.

    Butch

    TBogg used to do an occasional column he called faces I’d like to punch.  He always would caution that he’d never actually hit anyone….Licht, with the smirk and smug look, always fit into that category for me.

  37. 37.

    thruppence

    åÅęao

    @Alison Rose: What OS are you using? I’m on Monterey 12.6.6 and the press and hold for special characters is working for me on my somewhat aged MacBook Air

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    Wow [picks self off floor, dusts self off] will corporate wonders never cease? I thought the only thing that gets a head newsie fired is sexual assault of subordinates. NB Fox excluded of course. “We loofa the news!”

    Now they get to attempt reputation overhaul, to which I can only say lots-a luck.

  44. 44.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Doug R: Meh. From what I heard, The Flash isn’t able to transcend the fossilized comic book tropes. It certainly won’t be the game changer Across the Spider-Verse was, I think.

  45. 45.

    Kristine

    @Alison Rose: No advice, just the comment that I usually saw it with one or two different programs, Scrivener and iirc when trying to comment on Facebook. Scrivener was hit or miss–sometimes the accents worked and sometimes they didn’t. I think it was the same with FB.

  49. 49.

    Anoniminous

    Mr. Zaslav said, according to a recording of his remarks. “It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”

    Therefore he should do the honorable thing.

  51. 51.

    patrick II

    @cain:

    ABC News:

    Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, has lost his extradition appeal and will be sent to the United States on Thursday, according to the Peruvian Supreme Court.

    Just thought I would catch you up.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    @Doug R:

    TBF James Gunn who wrote and directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and The Suicide Squad (the good R-rated one) also thinks The Flash might be the best superhero movie as well.

    The weird thing is that much of the story has already been done in the Flash and Arrow TV series.

    I enjoyed the Marvel Avengers saga, but I think I am done with comic book superhero films, especially those that assume that you are going to see every film in the series, without regard to quality.

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    You have to look for the specific computer. You do this on the support page. You have to look for the specific operating system, on the specific computer. It’s there, it may take effort to get there but the info is there. It may help that I built complicated manufacturing tools for a living (we didn’t call them that) and one had to design them to not only do a job but to tell the customer how to use them to make the product. It can get in the weeds really easily. Some questions in the use of a computer are in the same league. And in the same weeds.

  56. 56.

    Frankensteinbeck

    If your worldview is that mediocre white men are actually God’s gift to creation and that politics is a game, then giving Trump a stage to spew his hate and lies is merely giving the audience an important perspective.  I think Licht was sincere.  Despite the ratings flop and backlash, he told his staff he saw the town hall as a wild success morally.

    @Baud:

    Baud, you magnificent bastard!

  58. 58.

    Alison Rose

    @zhena gogolia: Right, when I do that, I mostly just get the accent without the letter. Except with a, where the only one it gives me is the dot. I just spent 20 minutes chatting with an apple rep, and he told me to clean my keyboard and then to change the same settings I’d already changed, and then he said I would need to get on the phone with a senior rep and I am just done with this bullshit.

  62. 62.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ruckus:

    I know we’ve talked about Disney here a fair bit over the last while and that is a company that the product always comes first. They like money, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that the money comes from their product, it isn’t the first priority.

    Oof.  That is… such a complicated issue, especially since Disney had gone through phases where those priorities go up and down.  The Disney Princess movies were made solidly with money first as a focus, for example, but the studio itself was really determined to make quality.  I think the most consistent truth is Disney makes its money from merchandising their IPs, and is absolutely merciless and mercenary about it.

    And of course it all starts with Walt, who while an asshole in so many respects, was dedicated to quality and to training his animators to be the best of the best.  I feel sorry for the man in one respect.  Storytelling was his passion.  He believed in it, yearned to tell stories.  He was utterly incompetent at it and the art and limited other children’s options drove the popularity of his movies.

  64. 64.

    Alison Rose

    @Ruckus: All I can find is a “info” manual which is just two pages about recycling and compliance and stuff, a “quick start” manual which basically just tells you what the different parts of the laptop are, and the “repair manual” which is about making literal physical repairs. I don’t see anything else. When I search the site, again, I get the instructions that worked on my previous laptop but not on this one

    I’m tired. We can drop this now. I can just copy/paste when I need one.

  66. 66.

    Ivan X

    @Ruckus: I think Apple Is another one. Yeah, they sure do like money, but I think they believe in product first. (And then make a killing on accessories and upsell options.)

    I agree that that’s not how it works for most companies, especially ultra large companies, and startup companies that have to feed voracious VC appetites.

  67. 67.

    OverTwistWillie

    CNN was THE news cycle influencer back when it was Ted’s prestige project. Now cable news hawks hearing aids and gold buggery. Sic transit Pop Pop.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    It’s all fun and games until the state National Guards begin shooting at one another.

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office confirmed Tuesday that it was responsible for the two recent flights that brought Latin American migrants to Sacramento, saying that the 36 asylum seekers consented to the trips. In an email to The Sacramento Bee, DeSantis spokeswoman Amelia Johnson wrote that “Florida’s voluntary relocation is precisely that — voluntary.” “Through verbal and written [I love when somebody uses “verbal and written”] consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO. The specific NGO, Catholic Charities, is used and funded by the federal government,” Johnson wrote.

    The Bee first reported the flight of 16 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia by private chartered plane to Sacramento on Saturday. On Monday, 20 more migrants were flown to California’s capital. California officials quickly pointed the finger at DeSantis after the first flight arrived, but Tuesday’s statement was the first time the Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate confirmed his administration arranged them.

    The DeSantis Administration shared a link to a Rumble video purporting to show the migrants signing waivers and boarding the plane to California. It is not clear when or where the videos and photos were taken, who took them or who put together the video montage. It also does not identify the people who speak or whose faces are shown in the video. The Bee was unable to immediately independently confirm its veracity.

    In her statement, Johnson said that “left-leaning mayors in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado,” have relocated migrants in the past but that when Florida does the same thing, “it’s false imprisonment and kidnapping.” Johnson was referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s vow to criminally prosecute whoever was responsible for sending the migrants, a threat that legal experts called political posturing. A Newsom spokesman said Tuesday that DeSantis was the one posturing.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article276163536.html#storylink=cpy

    Are “left-leaning” and “woke” synonyms? I’m very behind with my wingnut-English dictionary.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @badgirl:

    It really matters that these anti-woke centrists often live in deeply Democratic areas. If you are in a red state, like me, you are constantly in fear of your state government adopting conservative policies — such as new limitations on reproductive freedom, transgender rights and honest education about race. But if you live in D.C. New York City or San Francisco, a much more realistic concern is that a “woke” liberal with whom you don’t agree gains political power — or sharply criticizes you in public.

    This is so, so true. Centrist anti wokes are safe as houses in blue states. Always. That’s why they can focus on Yale Law students who are not deferential enough to Right wing judges and all their other dumb panics.

  76. 76.

    OverTwistWillie

    One should be open to the possibility that Zaslav is in way, way, over his head.

  78. 78.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @NotMax:

    No Justice League International either!

    @trollhattan:

    Are “left-leaning” and “woke” synonyms?

    Not exactly?  ‘Woke’ means anti-bigotry, and left-leaning is a whole political voting group.  But since anti-bigotry is one of the biggest drivers of left-leaning politics, it’s pretty easy to swap them.

  79. 79.

    BruceFromOhio

    Listening to the vultures on CNBC, and TFG figures prominently in what happened and what should happen next. The business impact of cable-cutting is an interesting backstory to the future of cable news, cuz it’s all about the Benjamin’s.

  80. 80.

    Tony Jay

    @patrick II:

    Excerpt from the Atlantic article*:

      “ Mr Licht, You’ve talked quite a bit about Objective Truth and how important it is to your view of CNN’s journalistic mission. Could you tell us a little about what you mean by Objective Truth, what it means to you, and how is it different, if it is different, from other definitions of ‘Truth’”

      “That’s a great question. Truly. (Laughs) What does it mean to me? I guess it means seeing the truth, the real truth, of what is around us and not being afraid to say what things actually are, no matter who it offends.”

      “Can you give us an example of that?”

      “That’s what they pay me for. (Laughs) Now, see, I’m going to offend some people here, I know that. I’ll take the blows. (Laughs) But the best example, the one that really stands out and inspires me, it was President Trump.”

      “President Trump? Donald Trump?”

      “That’s the one. (Laughs) I said it might offend. But really. When I saw it on YouTube, him having the courage, the audacity, to point at those things, those objects, and just name them. No trimming. No hemming or hawing. Just “Man”, “Woman”, “Camera”, you know, “Fish”, whatever. (Laughs) I can’t remember it all, but it was the capital T truth, and that’s when I knew that that was what the country really needed.”

    ”………..”

    ”Mind blown? I feel you. Objective Truth. Just pointing and saying. Revolutionary.”

    ”…………”

    ”Good interview so far?”

    “Great  interview.”

     

    *possibly a lie, I haven’t read it.

  81. 81.

    Burnspbesq

    Not to be all Debbie Downer, but is there any reason to believe that Cole’s proposed strategy is commercially viable?

  82. 82.

    cain

    @BruceFromOhio:  it’s all about the Benjamin’s.

    I’m lead to believe that this is an anti-Semitic trope. I seem to recall AOC or someone from the Squad saying this and ended up having to apologize because of that. I didn’t know it was one until now – cuz you know I always thought it was about Benjamin Franklin’s mug on the $100 bill.

  84. 84.

    cain

    @Tony Jay:

    Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!

    Pointing at Donald Trump and being inspired. A known liar. Perhaps, he can now find a job in MAGA land. We’ll be seeing him real soon on OANN.

    ETA – I think in his chat with staff – he said he didn’t even recognize himself in that interview.

  87. 87.

    BruceFromOhio

    @cain: it is? News to me, Franklins on the hundred, it’s all about the money, and if cable-cutting having a side effect of diminishing the ability of the MSNBCs and CNNs of the world to sustain independent journalism as a business model is anti-Semitic, you’ve lost me. I’m just not that smart to begin with.

  89. 89.

    badgirl

    I confess that I am thrilled that some of my favorite commenters responded to my post and if I wasn’t trying to bake brownies and make enchiladas for a sick friend I would stay for more convo but duty calls!

  90. 90.

    Bobby Thomson

    I’m old enought to remember when the stuff Ezra Miller did was career-ending.

    It was a short window and in the end no one’s career actually ended except Harvey Weinstein’s, but still.

  92. 92.

    Bobby Thomson

    @cain:   I always thought it was about Benjamin Franklin’s mug on the $100 bill.

     

    It is.  Who says differently?

  93. 93.

    Tony Jay

    @cain:

    The new operative narrative is that every single thing anyone on ‘The Left’ says is always inherently antisemitic, awaiting only an accusation (by absolutely anyone) and subsequent confirmation via an approved Rightwing organisation with ‘Jewish’ somewhere in its name to make it official and beyond all question, challenge or need for proof.

    This may just be in the UK, but it’s such a useful rule.

  94. 94.

    Tony Jay

    @cain:

    I confess, I was kidding.

    I mean, I think I was kidding. Licht is such a dick he might have said it.

  96. 96.

    Spanky

    I know you did, Baud. You son of a bitch.

    I haven’t read a single damned comment yet, but I assume this is already a rotating tag.

  97. 97.

    Bobby Thomson

    No one could have anticipated that CNN would never attract viewers that had been conditioned for decades to see them as Satan but that they would very easily lose their core audience.

  99. 99.

    thalarctosMaritimus

    @Alison Rose: Copying and pasting anytime you need an accent is an awfully big job.

    You can get a generic accent (´, `, ˆ, ¨, ˜) by doing the option sequence that others mentioned earlier. First, you type to get the generic accent, and then you type the letter you want accented.

    So to get é, first you type ´ to get the accent, and then you type a regular e to put the e under that accent.

    Option-e + e ==> é

    Option-e + a ==> á

    Option-e + i ==> í

    Option-e + any character gives you ´ above that character.

    Option-` + any character gives you ` above that character.

    Option-u + <char> ==> ¨ above that character.

    Option-i + <char> ==> ˆ above that character.

    Option-n + <char> ==> ˜ above that character.

    As you correctly observed, Option-a is different: it gives you the Swedish character å. Similarly, Option-c breaks the general pattern, and just gives you the French character ç.

    I didn’t want to beat a dead horse after you said you were tired of it, but copying and pasting will get really old after a while. I hope this is helpful.

  100. 100.

    MomSense

    I have stopped watching tv news for the most part. Occasionally I watch Chuck “struggle bangs” Todd so I can yell at my teevee.  My mom has morning ho on during the week and that show has become a full time rehabilitate JS.  I never voted the way I voted or said the things you heard me say for decades or fluffed trump or anything.  It’s his attempt at the obliviate spell to erase all memory of his entire career.
    I don’t think the lack of tv news viewing has harmed my ability to track current events.  There is almost no news on tv news. I do read Heather Cox Richardson daily, check out the posts here, and read a variety of articles.

    Where are jackals sourcing news these days?

  102. 102.

    Suzanne

    @cain: I think that issue was around Ilhan Omar saying that AIPAC bribed politicians, and she used the phrase “all about the Benjamins”. The issue was with implying that Jews bribe people, not with the “Benjamins” part of the comment.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @cain:

    RE: it’s all about the Benjamin’s.

    I’m lead to believe that this is an anti-Semitic trope. I seem to recall AOC or someone from the Squad saying this and ended up having to apologize because of that. I didn’t know it was one until now – cuz you know I always thought it was about Benjamin Franklin’s mug on the $100 bill.

    This was NEVER an antisemitic trope. The reference was always to Ben Franklin. But someone decided to weaponize stupidity in order to take down AOC and others.

  104. 104.

    Tony Jay

    @Suzanne:

    Except she outright said AIPAC, didn’t she? So unless AIPAC = All Jews, and/or everyone is on board with the narrative that everyone on The Left is inherently antisemitic (The Goldberg/Freedland Hypothesis), then the actual ‘problem’ was a right wing pro-Israeli lobbying group trying to dodge accusations of bribery by promoting an antisemitic trope and immediately screaming “The nasty brown woman did it!”

    Sorry, I’m not having a go at you. I’m just extremely sensitive to this genre of bullshit since it became the operative narrative in the UK.

  105. 105.

    Jager

    @Alison Rose: His name was Kevin and he had an Indian accent. Hard to hear him because of the 300 other reps in the room, I’ll bet the senior rep is named Elizabeth Ann.

  106. 106.

    The Moar You Know

    “It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”

    Saith the asshole who didn’t get fired and is doubling down on the strategy of boosting the shit out of Trump’s ratings this election cycle.

  107. 107.

    Geminid

     

     

    @cain: It was Rep. Ihlan Omar who in early 2019 tweeted “It’s all about the Benjamins.” Some of her colleagues took offense and discussed it with her. Their beef wasn’t neccesarily about anti-semitism. She attributed Democratic support for Israel to campaign donations, and they explained that they supported Israel because of personal belief, not campaign contributions.

    They and Ms. Omar seem to have reached an understanding, and the entire caucus backed Omar a few months ago when Republicans moved to strip her of her Foreign Relations Committee assignment.

  108. 108.

    Old School

    I look forward to his town hall on CNN.

    North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum entered the Republican race for president Wednesday, offering himself as a candidate of “small town values” who can help steer the country in a different direction.

  109. 109.

    pat

    Just got here, so I might not be the first to mention this, but what is a “misfist?”

    tee hee

  110. 110.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Tony Jay:

    unless AIPAC = All Jews

    I assure you, AIPAC tries very hard to claim AIPAC = All Jews, and gets serious traction with it in our government.

    More importantly, anything that could be interpreted as ‘Jews are greedy and manipulate politics with money’ is legitimately a touchy subject.  Of course, all touchy subjects are weaponized in bad faith by the right.

    The new operative narrative is that every single thing anyone on ‘The Left’ says is always inherently antisemitic

    Not really an American politics thing, although occasionally it gets dragged out as a weapon.  Mostly if you are A) Muslim or B) criticizing Israel’s genocidal policies.

    I say all of this as a Jew.  Fuck Bibi, that corrupt, hate-filled orthodox warmongering fuck.

  112. 112.

    lee

    @Hilbertsubspace: I had heard both which is part of the reason I’m curious about the entire trajectory.

    I heard that he was responsible for ‘no politics’ at the beginning and that he told Colbert to go with more politics which lead to the increase in ratings. Maybe he did both.

    I would love Colbert’s insight on this.

  113. 113.

    oatler

    Licht’s hiring and firing remind of Liz Truss, suddenly elected and shortly gone. Almost like they were put into place to do something hidden from us, then ejected like cartridges.

  114. 114.

    Bupalos

    There is almost no news on tv news.

    Very little news and practically no investgative journalism. It’s just comodification of the very surface of news, into something that can bring in max dollars to pay entertainment talent.

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    @zhena gogolia: ​
      Right, I didn’t explain it fully. One key (the e for example) will enable a particular accent, but once that accent appears, you can type a different vowel. Since I posted, I discovered Apple calls this “dead keys”

    Example:
    – Option e gives just the accent ´.
    – Once the ´appears, you can type any other vowel, so for á, you then type A.

    The A key is not a dead key, so that’s why option-a gave you an alternate character right off.

  120. 120.

    Bupalos

    @Burnspbesq: commercialized news is just inherently going to trend toward being entertainment, and that entertainment driven primarily by fear and anger. And to the degree it can specifically select for stupid gullible chumps it can be more profitable. Fox is the most natural place for TV news to end up.

  121. 121.

    Chris T.

    @Alison Rose: Ugh, I started writing a response and lost it all. Maybe this one will work out better anyway.

    So: macOS vs iPhone are different. In macOS prior to Ventura, the difference is on purpose and easier to control. In Ventura, Apple have tried to hide the difference and in the process have screwed stuff up.

    I personally dislike the “press and hold key to get optional accents” mode on a computer keyboard because I just want the key to repeat. So I use the old style mode, plus I haven’t upgraded (sidegraded?) to Ventura anyway.

    In the old mode (macOS only) you use option-E to get an acute accent or option-backquote to get an accent grave, and then you type the character you want the accent to sit on. Option-O gives you an umlaut in the same way. These are “combining characters”, so that you type the accent first, then the character it’s supposed to sit on.

    In the new mode (the only one available on iPhone) you press and hold and then pick the accented character. This is obviously not compatible with “press and hold to have the key repeat”.

    With Ventura having screwed up the old way of switching modes in the first place, I can’t say what the new way is. But both systems should still have a third option: press ctrl-cmd-space to get a menu of all possible keys. WATCH OUT because shift-cmd-space does something entirely different: it switches between various other options. You can select a US keyboard, or a UK keyboard, or a French keyboard, etc. Using shift-cmd-space you can go into “Unicode input mode”, which gives you huge amounts of control, but requires huge amounts of memorization.

    Note that at the top of the screen (in the menu bar line), towards the right, there’s another way to get at these things. Mine normally shows a US flag, but shift-cmd-space changes it to show a highlighted “U+” meaning I’m now in Unicode Input Mode. Clicking on the flag or U+ brings up a drop-down menu with yet more options…

  123. 123.

    Geminid

    @Tony Jay: I’m not sure Rep. Omar mentioned AIPAC. That organization did not even make campaign contributions at the time. They do now.

    I think hers was a more general assertion, that many Democrats supported Israel because of campaign contributions. Some of them strongly disagreed. She and her colleagues worked it out though, and she and they turned the page on that controversy. Republicans still try to keep it going.

  125. 125.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @pat: It’s what happens when fisting goes awry.  Best to save any further discussion until Balloon Juice After Dark.

  128. 128.

    Chris T.

    @Chris T.: Er, I mean “I can’t say what the new way of switching keyboard modes is”. The old way was using defaults write from Terminal, the new way may be the same but with a different magic string or something.

  130. 130.

    Elizabelle

    Props to journalists who write longer profiles.

    That is two fools taken down in two weeks.  The Atlantic article by Tim Alberta was the pretext or last straw for firing Chris Licht.

    Last week, we were chortling over WaPost’s Ben Terris’s profile of Tommy Tuberville’s serial fabulist staffer, “Captain” Morgan Malley Murphy.  Which got Murphy fired.  Pretty much because he implied how malleable (“stupid”, to those in the know) Tuberville is.

    Anyone know if Tuberville is still holding military promotions hostage?

  132. 132.

    Betty Cracker

    @badgirl: Thanks for sharing that link. I read the column this morning and would do a post on it if I had time. Bacon made some excellent points.

  133. 133.

    Scout211

    @Chris T.: Yikes!  I may never upgrade to Ventura now, let alone Sonoma. I am sticking with Monterey. Thank you for your tutorial.  I think. 😉

  134. 134.

    Geminid

    @Suzanne: Ten seconds of “Google fu” did help. I found Omar did not mention AIPAC in her original comment, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” She named them later, when a journalist from The Forward asked her who she meant. But like I said, AIPAC did not start making political contributions until the 2022 cycle. They are very controversial though, so I can see why people frame this as AIPAC and its allies bullying Rep. Omar.

    Omar’s assertion, and what offended her colleagues, was that Congressional support for Israel was based on political contributions. They explained to her that their support for Israel was not based on money, which I think is true. She and they reached an understanding on this question.

  135. 135.

    Chris T.

    @Scout211: I use ctrl-cmd-space to bring up the emoji (and other selectors) thing, and sometimes I miss and hit shift-cmd-space and go into Unicode mode and then I’m annoyed that I can’t use option-dash to get an en-dash… Until I learned this I was so puzzled, now I look up at the menu bar for that U+ mode. (In Unicode mode you can type option and then all four or five hex digits of a specific Unicode character, but I can’t remember enough of them to matter.)

  137. 137.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Zaslav is the prick who absolutely ruined A&E, Bravo, The History Channel, TLC, etc. by a neverending feed trough of reality bullshit.

     

    Hate the Duggars?  Zaslav.

    Hate Honey BooBoo?  Zaslav.

    Axe Men, Aliens and Pawn Stars?  Zaslav.

    When the Revolution comes, he’s going to be in the first tranche of people up against the wall, along with Andy Cohen, every fucking Kardashian, Jim Bob and Michelle, Mama June, Honey BooBoo, etc.

  139. 139.

    Scout211

    And in other news, both Alito and Thomas get an extension on filing their financial disclosures because they need to fix their paperwork because the justices have been under “increased ethics scrutiny.”

  140. 140.

    JPL

    My niece just sent a picture of NYC and just wow.   I hope all are peeps who are experiencing the smoke are safe inside.

  141. 141.

    Suzanne

    @Geminid: “Later”, as in, “on the same Twitter thread”. It wasn’t like she followed up days later.

    People got offended because it is an anti-Semitic trope that rich Jewish people bribe the government. It wasn’t just her colleagues who objected. Nancy Smash told her to cut it out. And rightly so.

    From WaPo, at the time:

    Omar wrote that she thinks the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the influential lobbying group, is paying American politicians to take pro-Israel stances.

    AIPAC, which is not a political action committee, does not make campaign contributions to politicians, but its individual members can make donations, and the organization spends millions on lobbying efforts for pro-Israel legislation every year.

  144. 144.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @patrick II:

    You get absolutely zero objective truth with talking head pols and pundits spewing lists of prescripted talking points for hours each day.  What you do need is teams of reporters combing documents, gathering data and speaking with people that get negatively/positively impacted by government policy, business trends and social trends.

  145. 145.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @SFAW:

    Yeah, that rings of the bullshit “we really apologize” when the airline fucks up your reservation, timing or routing on travel.

    My response is always “OK, you’ve offered your bullshit apology, so now what are you going to do to fix the impact your screwup had on me?”

  147. 147.

    cain

    @Suzanne: Yes, you’re correct – the great science fiction and fantasy novelist (love her books) said this C.S. Friedman:

    The phrase just means “it’s all about money”. The context is the trope.
    Omar was describing how Jews used money to buy political influence. The reason some members of Congress supported Israel, she was implying in that speech, was not because they had real reasons, but because Jewish money had bought their loyalty. It was an insult both to Jews and to many members of Congress.
    “Jews using money to control the world” is an ancient trope, brought to a boil by the publication of a document in 19th century Russia, Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that purported to describe how evil Jews intended to use money and moral corruption to take over the world. It has since been revealed as a hoax, but once prejudices become deeply entrenched, mere logic will not easily dislodge them.
    The phrase itself, in a different context, has no offensive meaning.

    So apologies if anybody felt I might have been accusatory (which is why I coached it in very mild terms)

  148. 148.

    JML

    @Suzanne: It’s also important to note that this wasn’t the first time Ilhan Omar has traded in anti-Semitic tropes; there’s a history there, so hopefully it’s been put to bed. A fair number of us were getting very sick of her tossing this crap out there,  having her give a half-baked apology containing something about listening and understanding better (and occasionally making sure that it was understood that anyone who criticized her was a racist), and then the cycle repeating itself a year later…

  149. 149.

    HeleninEire

    @JPL: It’s pretty nasty out there. I usually walk home, but I’m taking the subway tonight. I also just dug out an N95 mask I had in my desk.

  151. 151.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @patrick II:

    I get that Van Der Sloot is a pig of the first order, but what possible jurisdiction do either the United States or Alabama have over his criminal conduct in Aruba?  And might this be setting a standard that’s gonna bite us in the ass one day?

  152. 152.

    Ivan X

    @Jager: actually, this is one of the things you get when you pay the Apple premium: no overseas call centers.

  153. 153.

    cain

    @Baud: ha – that must really grab evangelical’s collective testicles. I mean animals can do it too! Makes humans a lot less special.

    ETA – on the other hand, it worries me that MAGA might be able to asexually procreate.

  154. 154.

    tam1MI

    @Cacti: I’m sure he’ll have a soft landing and get an undeserved job elsewhere.

    The perks of being a mediocre white male.

  157. 157.

    tam1MI

    @oatler: Licht’s hiring and firing remind of Liz Truss, suddenly elected and shortly gone.

    It put me in mind of Jean Doumanian’s tenure at SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE back in the 80s.

  159. 159.

    middlelee

    @Alison Rose: Google “Talk to a human” and then scroll down till you get a reference to Apple or Mac.  It will provide a phone number.  I’ve done this a couple of times and I got an answer by an actual human and then he (it’s always been a he so far) talked me through whatever the problem was and educated me in a kindly way.  These people have endless patience which I appreciate.

  160. 160.

    arrieve

    @JPL: It’s very Darkness at Noon here in NYC–dark skies the color of a chain-smoker’s fingernails. I went out for groceries earlier and my eyes were stinging after only half a block. Came home and put on the AC. And the lights.

  161. 161.

    apocalipstick

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Ilhan Omar said GOP support of Israel was all about the Benjamin’s. The RW immediately declared this the sine qua non of anti-Semitism.

  162. 162.

    Suzanne

    @JML: Agreed. I haven’t heard much from her in the last two years or so, maybe she’s figured this out.

    But anyway….. the phrase “all about the Benjamins” has no direct anti-Semitic meaning of which I am aware. It’s just a way of saying, “doing it for money”.

  163. 163.

    sdhays

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Whatever you think of her, “Honey Boo Boo” is a child victim and doesn’t deserve hate. The show, on the other hand, was disgustingly exploitive. Just like the Duggars.

    Zaslav seems to be on a mission to prove that cable television shouldn’t exist because awful people run things, and he’s doing a great job of that.

  164. 164.

    WhatsMyNym

    @Chris T.:   I just use the Google keyboard on my iPhone.  You can download it and set it as the keyboard in the settings.  Much better.

  165. 165.

    Nettoyeur

    @thalarctosMaritimus: This is of course specific to native Mac OS. There is an alternate PC international keyboard set up that does something similar, but with different key combos. You can use this both on Mac and Windows and that option might be convenient if you go back and forth between systems.

  168. 168.

    Geminid

    @Suzanne: It was Omar’s original statement and not the comment about AIPAC that was problematic. Her colleagues might have been offended that she used an arguably anti-Semitic trope, but I doubt if they were upset because she slammed  AIPAC afterwards. They are used to seeing that outfit take flak, and most understand that it is often justified.

    They definitely were offended by the implication that their votes were being bought, though, and they let her know it. They and Omar settled this matter within a few days. The people prolonging it have anti-Omar axes to grind, or anti-AIPAC axes to grind.

  169. 169.

    RaflW

    @badgirl: Bacon says “what I mean is skepticism of progressive causes and ideas, especially on issues of gender, race and sexuality.”

    To me, that’s been the operating stance of much of the Democratic Party all the 39 years I’ve been an eligible &  registered voter. I truly don’t mean to Dem-bash. I’m a loyal Dem voter and I’ve given literal thousands to Dem candidates, and I’ve door knocked, phone banked, lit-stuffed for Dems over the years.

    But both the party insiders, and many of the near-left who are in journalism (as well as purported centrists) have always been skeptical of progressive policies. So, on that point at least, “same song, different verse.”

  172. 172.

    JPL

    @arrieve: NYTimes is doing live updates.   I imagine that it will be a banner day for taxi drivers.   The subway is going to be packed.

  173. 173.

    PST

    @NotMax: Disagree in turn. The expression, “all about the Benjamins,” is an old one that was used, among other places, in a song and a movie with no references to Jews. There is no accounting for idiom, but “all about the Franklins” just sounds weird.

  174. 174.

    RaflW

    Not to pick on @Kay, but the idea that “Centrist anti wokes are safe as houses in blue states” is something that I, as a leftish gay man in MN do not feel.

    Yes, I am very grateful to the voters here who delivered a Dem trifecta. And the work of Dem legislators, as well as policy wonks and policy activists who equipped and motivated them this session, has been tremendous.

    But the way our federal system works, none of us is safe as houses if the 2024 national election goes wrong. State protections will only go so far.

  175. 175.

    Citizen Alan

    @Doug R: I don’t plan to go see The Flash. But if it does end in a Flashpoint reboot of the entire DC universe that allows us to pretend that the last 30 years of movies did not happen, it would indeed be one of The best superhero movies of all time.

  176. 176.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @RaflW: Even now, notice the way a single judge in Texas might be able to prevent women all over the country from accessing abortion drugs, no matter who those states elect to their statehouse

  177. 177.

    karen marie

    @lee:  There is a huge difference between a showrunner for a late night show and running a cable network.

    It will never not be a mystery as to why Licht was hired to run CNN in the first place.

  178. 178.

    sukabi

    @trollhattan: DeSantis’s spokesperson is a liar… if you don’t understand what’s being said, and it’s a pack of lies there is no informed consent…also, it’s my understanding that these immigrants were picked up in Texas and transported to California…DeSantis has NO authority to do anything in that state…he’s a kidnapper and human trafficker.

  179. 179.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Doug R: Bold words while the Spider-Verse sequel is actually in theaters.  (Haven’t seen it yet. Want to ASAP…)

  182. 182.

    Balconesfault

    @lee: I’ve always been a big fan of Colbert, but I still hold a grudge against him.. and maybe this was Lichts influence … For running months with a “they’re both really unlikable” schtick leading up to the 2016 campaign.

    Voter turnout was crucial for that election, and all the voices that were out there working to suppress Hillary’s favorability points… From the Bernistas, to the Jill Stein devotees, to James Comey, to late night host trying to be cool by portraying a woman candidate to be “unlikable” because Fox News had created that narrative … helped with getting Trump across the finish line because just way too many people whose interests Hillary was championing decided it just wasn’t a big deal to get out and vote for her.

  185. 185.

    Citizen Alan

    @cain: All about the benjamins referred to the hundred dollar bill. But then one of the squad members, not AOC but one if the others, used the term, and it magically became anti-Semitic.

  186. 186.

    rikyrah

    Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) tweeted at 9:13 AM on Wed, Jun 07, 2023:
    BREAKING: Long Island funeral home owner Peter Moloney has (finally) been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    #SeditionHunters have been waiting on this one for nearly two years.

    Story with @jonathan4ny:

     

    Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) tweeted at 9:23 AM on Wed, Jun 07, 2023:
    #BlackBonoHelmet was identified nearly two whole years ago and has been living his best life in the intervening years. https://t.co/UBV5sxy4oR
    (https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1666450900901150721?t=zanmqjTu_u3QOe6fwaZbAg&s=03)

  187. 187.

    Balconesfault

    @Baud: but remember, this is the Republican party.

    So no matter what they might think about him now, if DeSantis becomes the nominee they will line up behind him as if he’s been gifted from birth with the divine right of kings.

  188. 188.

    Citizen Alan

    @Bobby Thomson: I still think his career has ended, and everyone at DC and Warner brothers who said otherwise has just been whistling past the graveyard because they desperately need The Flash to do well in order to jump start their disastrously mishandled franchise. Or at least not be a colossal bomb like the last several DC movies they have put out.

  192. 192.

    Balconesfault

    @zhena gogolia: my partner comes close to throwing a shoe through the TV every time we see Colbert or Seth Meyer make one of the “he’s old” jokes.

    The fact is that like with CNN right wingers are going to hate their shows no matter how they try to balance it, so all they accomplish is putting doubt in the mind of neutral voters who might otherwise just look at all the shit Biden is getting done and think he’s a pretty good candidate.

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    @Tony Jay: It’s so bizarre to me that by the standards the rightwing typically uses to define antisemitism (i.e. any criticism of Likud whatsoever or being a Muslim and merely existing), the most antisemitic mainstream newspaper in the world is probably the jerusalem times.

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Citizen Alan: As noted by many here, Rep. Omar has a history of, let’s say, problematic statements regarding Jews.  This particular statement was suggesting that support for Israel was purchased. People finding the whole thing to be a bit offensive shouldn’t come as a surprise.  My initial reaction to it wasn’t bad, but I am not Jewish and don’t have the ear for anti-Semitic overtones that years of persecution can bring.

  197. 197.

    Jeffro

    @Suzanne: I always do, these days!

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ooh indeed!  Meadows rolling over on trumpov is game, set, match.

    I’m sure Smith would have considered a plea deal for trumpov, but then ol’ Donnie has been calling Smith a “fascist thug” and talking about Smith’s family endlessly.  NO DEAL!

    The Fros are heading out for tapas tonight and gosh oh gee, I might have to spring for something nicer than the house red.  =)

  198. 198.

    Jackie

    @Baud: Nation-wide or state-wide? I’d love to see Floridians come to their senses and realize their freedums are under siege.

  199. 199.

    Jay

    Here in Vancouver, the smoke has come in, so it’s Coast to Coast.

    Have the air purifier cranked.

  202. 202.

    Scout211

    Multiple reports are saying that Federal prosecutors have notified Donald Trump that he is a criminal target and likely to be indicted imminently in a probe into alleged classified documents.

    Multiple other reports are saying that Trump denies it.

    Should I run out and get more popcorn?

  210. 210.

    Kristine

    @eldorado:

    there are, of course, no good comic book movies

    I thought the Ron Perlman “Hellboy” was fab.
    Dominic Cooper’s Preacher was insanity.
    The 2019 Watchmen was amazing.

  212. 212.

    Jackie

    @Baud: The authors, Andrew Weissmann and Ryan Goodman, were trying to sound adult like and serious, but hints of jubilation kept seeping out 🤭

  215. 215.

    JCJ

    @Matt McIrvin:  Saw it yesterday.  Really enjoyed everything about it.  When I saw the first Spider-Verse movie I was amazed by how good it was.  This one does not disappoint.

  216. 216.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Thank you! I believe I may have participated in the poll as an anti-DeSantis data point. To know him is to loathe him!

  220. 220.

    Jeffro

    @eldorado: oh please

    @Kristine: the first two HELLBOY movies rocked!  WATCHMEN caught a fair amount of criticism, but I liked it a lot.

    there have been plenty of other good comic book movies…just not DC ones (except WATCHMEN)!  LOL

  221. 221.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

    BREAKING per @AndrewFeinberg :

    MARK MEADOWS has agreed to plead guilty to several lesser federal crimes in exchange for his testimony under a limited grant of immunity. It is believed Trump will be indicted as soon as tomorrow on obstruction & Espionage Act charges.

    — Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) June 7, 2023

    Buckle up

  222. 222.

    JPL

    @Betty Cracker: If he is polling close to trump when we have the GA primary, I’m going to vote for trump.   I’ll keep a puke bucket in the car, because I might have to use it.

  224. 224.

    Brachiator

    @geg6:

    Mainly because there are no good comic books.  Except Maus.

    Persepolis is a great graphic novel and a pretty good animated movie.

  226. 226.

    Tony Jay

    @Citizen Alan:

    So true. I could go on and on and on about how dangerous and destructive this attitude is, but it would just drive me potty with the hypocrisy of it all.

  229. 229.

    Jackie

    Meanwhile at Kevin’s House…

    “A conservative rebellion has the Republican-led House of Representatives completely paralyzed for a second day in a row as the leadership remains unable to bring anything to the floor,” Punchbowl News reports.”

    “This is the most serious challenge to Speaker Kevin McCarthy since January’s grueling floor drama to win the gavel. And how the standoff is decided will have a big impact on McCarthy’s relationship with his right flank – and his leadership of the House.”

    “Let’s be clear about this: If the leadership can’t even bring up bills on the House floor – like right now – it’s a crisis for McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.”

    “McCarthy and his leadership team are engaged in a furious round of finger pointing.”

    Jake Sherman of Politico was just interviewed on MSNBC, and he actually giggled a little while reporting this!😂

  231. 231.

    trollhattan

    @sukabi: Ron’s struggling to have it both ways: get away with criming and still “owning the California libs” and bragging about the criming, because why go to all the trouble for an audience of seven?

    DoJ needs to open a book on this–it can’t be legal, “but, but they signed these release forms, see?”

  234. 234.

    Scout211

    As a Californian who has experienced long periods of smoke and harmful air during our wildfires, I feel bad for all of you experiencing the smoke now.

    If you have a few minutes this opinion piece on CNN is very good and the author has several tips on how to cope.
    Opinion: A Californian’s message to East Coasters struggling in smoke-filled air

  235. 235.

    Suzanne

    Okay, can I be morbid for a moment? SuzMom is not in the greatest health ever — nothing imminent, but not awesome. Anyway, I told her once that she has to outlive TFG so she can shit on his grave. I am sad that SuzFIL didn’t live to see this fucker go to prison. He would have loved that.

  236. 236.

    Tony Jay

    @prostratedragon:

    Thankee. I’ve been working on my dialogue for the book.

    And doing high flying media types is easy. Just adopt ‘self-satisfied dick’ mode and it’s all downhill on skates.

  237. 237.

    Geoduck

    @Kristine:  The first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeves were good. The fight Supes has with the three Kryptonian criminals was the first time an actual comic-book superhero fight was depicted in live-action.

  242. 242.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: I did not see that Rep. Omar’s statement expressed anti-Semitism, and I do not think she meant to. But I thought her Democratic colleagues were rightfully offended at their motives being impugned, and they let her know.

    It was a rookie mistake, I think. Omar has grown into her job since.

  243. 243.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: The Freedom Caucus holdouts are afraid to try to remove McCarthy. That could lead to unintended consequences, such as a retired Republican like Tom Reed being elected with Democratic votes as a caretaker Speaker.

  246. 246.

    Princess

    I can’t claim to see not Omar’s heart when she repeatedly says things that might be innocent — or might be anti-Semitic. Truly  you can take them either way. But I can say that when she posts those comments on Twitter, the anti-semites certainly think she’s being anti-Semitic and they LOVE them and praise her for them and that doesn’t seem to bother her one whit. And that does bother me.

    Hint: not all anti-semites are on the right.

  247. 247.

    karen marie

    @Omnes Omnibus:  You’re conflating negative statements about the State of Israel with anti-semitism.  One does not follow the next unless you’re deeply dishonest.

  248. 248.

    H-Bob

    @Burnspbesq: “Not to be all Debbie Downer, but is there any reason to believe that Cole’s proposed strategy is commercially viable?”

    Well, it would certainly be an uncontested niche in the media market!

  251. 251.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: Rep. Omar has made plenty of statements about Israel, but the statement in question was not one of them. She was talking about Congress.

  252. 252.

    mrmoshpotato

    Holy shit!  They gave Licht the boot?  I’m surprised (and, no, I don’t give a flying fuck about the details.  Fuck CNN and their empty Dump podiums!)

  253. 253.

    kalakal

    @Kristine:

    Or you can just skip the comic book, make it up as you go along, and produce the wonderfully silly

    The Return of Captain Invincible

    which I absolutely love

  254. 254.

    kalakal

    @trollhattan:

    hmmm

    these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO

    I think it would be just awful if lots of Floridians started asking when are they going to get their free flight to California? I mean, I’ve never been there, fancy a holiday, c’mon Guv, where’s my free flight?

    Honest Ron really is deplorable

  255. 255.

    AWOL

    @Bobby Thomson: Ezra Miller was pure nepotism.

    His father is a prominent asshole in the publishing world.

    He’s also Oprah’s editor. They mutually pimp things. They both love $$$.

    Ezra Miller took film roles from more-deserving humans who lacked connections.

Comments are closed.