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When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

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Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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The revolution will be supervised.

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Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Silly Season

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Silly Season

by Anne Laurie|  August 19, 20238:21 am| 136 Comments

This post is in: 2024 Primaries, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Indictments

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I would rule in favor of the defendant because if you manage to convince somebody to pay you $200,000 for a picture of a monkey on the computer, you clearly deserve the money more than they do. https://t.co/1mdRLrqfe3

— Starfish Unexpectedly Cancelled For Hating Hitler (@IRHotTakes) August 18, 2023

{GG, using Scooby-Doo villain voice: If it weren’t for those wacky kids…}

Dems in Array! https://t.co/YbpsNFbvWy

— River_Tam (@RiverTamYDN) August 19, 2023

INBOX: pic.twitter.com/PJhnldVptu

— Julia Johnson (@juliaajohnson_) August 18, 2023


Rudy Giuliani married his cousin, Mike Pence calls his wife “Mother,” and Trump wants to have sex with his daughter. This is the grossest episode of Game of Thrones I’ve ever seen.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) August 17, 2023

LOL omg yes please every Republican should take his advice so they can perform terribly pic.twitter.com/W41XPxCLop

— Bhavik Lathia (@bhaviklathia) August 18, 2023

Gift (unpaywalled) link (h/t commentor Mr. Bemused Senior) to national treasure Alexandra Petri, at the Washington Post:

… Enough people are bored by the fact that the former president keeps getting charged with crimes that there’s even a term for it: indictment fatigue. Imagine! This is the Trump era in a nutshell. In a horrifying, unprecedented manner, the Hellmouth is opening up to release demons, but this happens regularly on Thursdays now, so people are bored with it! All you have to do, if you want to get away with something, is do it at least twice. It then ceases to be unprecedented and people can develop fatigue about it.

Boy, I wish that applied to other areas of life!

As a new parent, I keep thinking, “Change another diaper? But I just changed a diaper.” I would certainly love to declare diaper fatigue. No, we don’t need to change the diapers anymore! We have changed enough of them; we get the general sense of what is going to be inside. After a certain point, it feels like piling on, you know? It begins to feel as though They are out to get us. Surely this can’t just be a direct consequence of the baby’s actions; it’s got to be a conspiracy. Someone (They!) is sneaking into the home and filling these diapers with horrible, noisome substances and expecting me to deal with them. Well, I won’t. I stand with babies against those conspirators who are trying to weaponize the digestive system against us. This simply cannot be what happens every time you eat food…

I think we should apply this premise that you can just get tired of the consequences of your actions and decide they are no longer interesting to more areas of life. No gravity today, thanks. I get the general sense and do not need any more examples. Also, I am sick of hitting the ground when I fall off ladders. Today, I am going to float.

Are you trying to remove cancer from your lung? Did you get a bit of it out? That should do, then! Are you counting votes? We counted a few of them; must we really keep counting? Just get a gist and call it a day! I have been to my general practitioner a single time! That’s great! I’m set for life! Breathe air? No, thanks, I have air fatigue. Read a book? No, I read one last year. Shower? No, I have shower fatigue. Experiencing consequences? Nope, I have consequence fatigue…

No, I am not saying that at a certain point if you do enough crimes people should just let you do the crimes. I’m simply saying: Enough is enough.

What do you mean, he should have thought of that when he was doing it?

I would totally approve of Consequence Fatigue as the official term for TFG / GOP excuse-mongering.

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Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    August 19, 2023 at 8:26 am

    You can tell Petri is a pro when she uses the term “noisome diaper”

  2. 2.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 8:29 am

    There’s technically no honest way to promote NFTs.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    August 19, 2023 at 8:30 am

    Repeated from downstairs (thought that one was the morning thread).

    Okay, folks. Taking into account the input in previous threads, NYC meet-up pencilled in for Sunday, September 3rd from 4 p.m. until whenever at The Baylander. Open air venue. Food — Beverages.

    Take the A train or the 1 train to 125th Street, then M125 bus (or can walk) west to 12th Avenue/St. Claire Place stop. From there a short hop to the Hudson River.

    I plan on calling ahead to reserve space for 12 (guessing) under the name Jack Alworthy (say it out loud) unless there is fierce objection to this spot, to date or to time.

    (If weather lousy on the 3rd can move instead to old haunt Tir Na Nog, just across the street from Penn Station.)

  4. 4.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 8:31 am

    Funny how the media never gets Biden-is-old fatigue.

  5. 5.

    Spanky

    August 19, 2023 at 8:33 am

    @Baud: “Butter emails!”

  6. 6.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 8:35 am

    On the flip side, it would be nice if MSNBC cut back a little on Trump and reported some positive stories about Dems.

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 8:42 am

    Greenwald said something positive about Democrats?  What universe did I wake up in?

  8. 8.

    Raoul Paste

    August 19, 2023 at 8:44 am

    Too bad we don’t have scam fatigue.  Lord knows there is enough of it., but it seems to be a renewable resource.

  9. 9.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    August 19, 2023 at 8:45 am

    @Baud: There’s technically no honest way to promote NFTs.

    This ugly piece of art has no intrinsic value and is not unique in any meaningful way, but it’s attached to some number balderdash that’s trendy with stock traders so think of it as a pricey lottery ticket.

    You want to be “cool,” don’t you?

  10. 10.

    Ian R

    August 19, 2023 at 8:46 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: He didn’t mean it as a positive. He was probably whining that his whole schtick is manufacturing democratic infighting, and it isn’t working.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 8:47 am

    Did Glenn Greenwald, famous lawyer and journalist, ever correct his assertion that the “Biden DOJ” was corruptly protecting Sam Bankman-Fried because SBF was a big Dem donor?

    His ridiculous “theory” was proven wrong a week after he confidently announced it as fact. Seems like he should admit the error. Maybe the bitter middle aged, white male “bold contrarians” aren’t held to any standards at all -they all seem to be wrong at least 50% of the time yet they never correct or apologize.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 8:48 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It took me aback too.  But I think he didn’t mean it as a positive.  He’s saying trying to portray us as a cult because we’re unified against fascists. It’s projection.

  13. 13.

    bbleh

    August 19, 2023 at 8:49 am

    Democrats’ Unity
    Nearly Unprecedented
    Why Biden Should Be Worried
    Analysis by The Times

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I’d say it’s closer to a Beanie Baby or a tulip bulb.

  14. 14.

    Rusty

    August 19, 2023 at 8:51 am

    When NFT’s made their first splash I ended up in a couple of back and forth arguments on Facebook and comment threads when I pointed out that with a NFT you were actually paying for nothing.  You weren’t even getting the copyright in the art work.  You got a unique pointer to a computer file.  I was lectured how wrong I was (which was interesting since I am a patent/intellectual property attorney with almost 30 years experience).  I kept recommending to people not to buy them, but the true believers were having none of it.  NFT’s were going to be the savior of the arts community.   I was wrong about the crash, it happened much faster than I expected.   Now if folks would understand that there is almost no difference between crypto and NFT’s…

  15. 15.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 8:52 am

    @Kay:

    Where is the irrefutable evidence that the DOJ isn’t corrupt? When you’re a white guy that hates Dems, your obligation ends when you propound a theory.

  16. 16.

    MattF

    August 19, 2023 at 8:54 am

    Greenwald is suffering from Greenwald fatigue.

  17. 17.

    Scout211

    August 19, 2023 at 8:55 am

    Good news! The War on Woke is over! I’m not sure who won, but the GOP candidates who promoted it have definitely lost . . . percentage points.  Link

    All the political reporters covering the cast of thousands (GOP presidential hopefuls) who are campaigning in Iowa to capture the “Heartland Vote” have  interviewed Republicans, people of faith and greasy spoon diners and it’s true! The War on Woke is over.

     

    Turns out Republican primary voters aren’t that into the anti-woke rallying cry, and presidential candidates are responding accordingly.

    Jill Connell is sick of hearing the word “woke.”

    The 66-year-old from Kansas is an undecided Republican voter with a host of concerns about the country, and she knows for sure what doesn’t top that list.

    . . .

    Connell isn’t alone. After almost two years as a conservative rallying cry, Republicans may finally be over the war on woke.

    Last week at the Iowa State Fair, the Republican presidential candidates who had relentlessly decried wokeness in the weeks and months prior barely mentioned it by name. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has called wokeness a virus more dangerous than COVID, didn’t talk about it at all. Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur who wrote a manifesto against wokeness in corporate America, used it only a few times in front of crowds.

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the emperor of the state where woke goes to die, downplayed his offensive against Disney, his woke foil, mentioning the company only once in a stump speech. As recently as June, he used “woke” seven times in a mere 26 seconds.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 8:55 am

    @Baud:

     and reported some positive stories about Dems.

    I’m genuinely torn on that. The student loan situation w/Biden is complex but really interesting how they have managed to manuever policy-wise and forgive or improve terms a lot BUT if media start covering it it’ll be a dumbed down “debate” because it’s complicated. I think there’s some lessons from Obamacare. It only became popular when people started recognizing it working in their lives. When it was the subject of an incredibly dumb “debate” in media it was hugely unpopular. We may have reached the point where the downside of media coverage doesn’t justify the upside.

  19. 19.

    p.a.

    August 19, 2023 at 8:55 am

    Democrats’ Unity
    Nearly Unprecedented
    Why Biden Should Be Worried
    Analysis by The Times

    Follow up Times article: Demos exhibit Winning Fatigue.  Sanders, RFKJr & Mark Penn weigh in.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    August 19, 2023 at 9:00 am

    @Kay:

    Well, MSNBC is the only media outlet that kind of pitches itself to a liberal audience. You would think they would at least try to act differently.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:00 am

    @Baud:

    It’san astonishing thing to say without a shred of evidence.

    I have always said Greenwald doesn’t have the actual instincts of someone who is concerned about civil liberties. I know lots of crim defense lawyers who are genuinely committed to the ideas he pretends to care about and they don’t make unfounded allegations about anyone or anything. It’s just not part of the mindset. He’s always been a frustrated, hackish prosecutor. He’s angry that he isn’t in a position to put people in prison. Thank God. I think he’s safer as a shitty journalist than a shitty lawyer. At least he can’t actually hurt anyone in “journalism”.

  22. 22.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    August 19, 2023 at 9:01 am

    @NotMax:

    (thought that one was the morning thread).

    It was. And so is this one.

    I feel like that dog in that video where the owners run simultaneously in opposite directions and he ends up bewildered and spinning in place.

  23. 23.

    p.a.

    August 19, 2023 at 9:01 am

    Turns out Republican primary voters aren’t that into the anti-woke rallying cry, and presidential candidates are responding accordingly.

    Jill Connell is sick of hearing the word “woke.”The 66-year-old from Kansas is an undecided Republican voter with a host of concerns about the country, and she knows for sure what doesn’t top that list. . .

    Connell isn’t alone. After almost two years as a conservative rallying cry, Republicans may finally be over the war on woke.

     

     

    When you start losing elections at the school-council level…

    Lee Atwater might say the dog whistle might have gotten too high for even the dogs to hear.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    August 19, 2023 at 9:03 am

    @Rusty: NFT’s were going to be the savior of the arts community.   I was wrong about the crash, it happened much faster than I expected.

    That’s the advantage of computers. We can do everything many times faster than before, including fads and bubbles.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:04 am

    @Baud:

    I don’t trust them to do the work, because it will require work. This is really clever legal and policy machinations they’ve done. I haven’t yet figured it out. Plus? It’s boring. My clients have all kinds of student loan issues and I’d like to tell them what to do so I’ve been reading up and it’s dry as dust. Health care was boring too, so they had to spice it up with death panels. They’re a net negative.

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 19, 2023 at 9:05 am

    That Greenwald X-cret; has the press sunk so low into doom porn that positive comments about the Left is the new contrarian?

    Also, that can really be Greenwald:It should be

    “The Democrats 2023, who I don’t support, are unified,…”

  27. 27.

    Richard Fox

    August 19, 2023 at 9:09 am

    @Baud: I completely agree. I cannot watch the news programs. I have to turn them off with all the breathless non-stop coverage of that idiot. So much of consequence happening, and yet here we are. It would help Biden’s popularity considerably if there was more factual reporting on what he’s actually doing, something colloquially known as “governing.” Sigh.

  28. 28.

    artem1s

    August 19, 2023 at 9:09 am

    @Scout211:

    Turns out Republican primary voters aren’t that into the anti-woke rallying cry

    good lord, it’s Iowa. they’re still calling it political correctness

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    August 19, 2023 at 9:09 am

     

     

    @Frankensteinbeck: I think that dumbass Greenwald is saying this like it’s a bad thing that illustrates our docile obedience to the party’s neoliberal overlords.

  30. 30.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 19, 2023 at 9:10 am

    @Baud: NFTs seem to me to be even more obviously scammy than bitcoin

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    August 19, 2023 at 9:13 am

    @Rusty: The allure of quick, easy, huge profits is hard to resist.

    I remember back in the summer of 2000 talking with a friend about how great his Intel stock was while waiting in line at lunchtime.

    ;-)

    I’ve got one of these HappyToast T-shirts. I haven’t actually worn it in public yet.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    August 19, 2023 at 9:16 am

    Another silly season story from huffpost

    Scandal! Kid Rock photographed at his bar, drinking Bud Light!

    Fun X responses:

    Hold the phone. You’re telling me a rich kid from the suburbs of Michigan who cosplayed as trailer trash for 20 years so human backwash would spend their government checks on his shitty albums is disingenuous? Color me shocked. https://t.co/5Isj9bQE2u— Kathleen Wolak (@wolak_kathleen) August 18, 2023

    Lmao. Idk what’s funnier that he’s drinking it after spraying rounds of bullets into cases and encouraging others to boycott or the fact that this is worthy of a TMZ article. Bro, it’s beer. Shut the fuck up https://t.co/sBDy7vTRhU— Manny (@BeastModeManny) August 18, 2023

  33. 33.

    Richard Fox

    August 19, 2023 at 9:16 am

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I show my paintings on Instagram. Whenever I post something some auto generated person instantly chimes in on how “clean” my work is, and would I please contact them? They are “NFT” collectors! I can make millions! You click on their profile and they’ve posted less than 10 times but have thousands of followers, naturally. So irritating and such utter rubbish!

  34. 34.

    HinTN

    August 19, 2023 at 9:17 am

    @NotMax: If you like jazz of the piano trio variety, the Emmett Cohen trio begins an engagement st Birdland on Tuesday, 5 September.

    I wish I could be at the meet-up because I surely would attend one of Mr Cohen’s performances. You kids have fun!

  35. 35.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:18 am

    @Geminid:

    The new business model the bitter middle aged former radicals use deludes them into thinking they’re more popular and influencial than they are, I think. They can have a lot of paid accounts (readers) at 10 dollars a pop monthly (or whatever)  and make a lot of money – especially because they don’t do any original reporting or employ anyone outside themselves – they have no expenses – but in a country as big as the US their audience is tiny.

    Because despite all Greenwalds and the rest working as hard as they can to discredit Democrats, Democrats are ACTUALLY very unified. The voting base. So they failed.

  36. 36.

    Suzanne

    August 19, 2023 at 9:21 am

    I would totally approve of Consequence Fatigue as the official term for TFG / GOP excuse-mongering.

    I mean, Consequence Fatigue really encapsulates the anti-woke position in a very small nutshell.

    I, too, am tired of paying my bills, but I accept it as a consequence of choices I already made.

    When are these MAGAts going to take responsibility?! Where are their fathers?!

  37. 37.

    Nukular Biskits

    August 19, 2023 at 9:21 am

    Have to agree with the Starfish here: NFTs are for suckers.

    But, then, most of us knew that anyway.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:22 am

    @Scout211:

    I didn’t know who the trans woman influencer was – I had never heard of her – until conservatives savaged her for months. She turned up on my Instagram and I clicked and listened to her for a bit – she’s charming. Seems like a lovely, gentle person who really thinks (so rare). I’m so sorry this happened to her.  But they made me a fan!

  39. 39.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:25 am

    Mediocre white men must be much happier now that their compatriots on the bench struck down affirmative action.

    They are happier right?  No? Still incredibly bitter and resentful haters who blame women, minorities and immigrants for all their failures? You don’t  say. I’m shocked.

  40. 40.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    August 19, 2023 at 9:25 am

    Its value is in its name: NFT = Not a Fucking Thing

    That’s its worth.

  41. 41.

    RevRick

    August 19, 2023 at 9:30 am

    @Baud: Especially when they pitch those crappy commercials from Americans for Prosperity, which peddles rightwing, hack, economic propaganda.

  42. 42.

    Spanky

    August 19, 2023 at 9:34 am

    @Scout211:

    Bro, it’s beer.

    I wouldn’t call it that.

  43. 43.

    artem1s

    August 19, 2023 at 9:36 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: that’s because NFTs were only invented as an excuse to make crypto more useful to the end user – expand the market by creating an after market need. the con artist who bought the $69M set of ones and zeros colluded with Christie’s on the scam. The buyer owned a company that has lots of crypto ATMs in India. He creates a need – millions of dumbasses with virtual beanie babies (NFTs) that they have to spend crypto to keep track of (think checking account fees for their crypto account). Then the dumbass who do make some profits will use his ATM’s more (don’t ask why virtual currency needs ATM’s – it will just send you further down the rabbit hole). Christie’s profits because it’s now acceptable for them and other auction houses to do business in crypto with sellers and buyers who need a way to launder their money without getting caught. High end art has always been a way for oligarchs and mobsters to exchange and launder huge sums of money. But there are only a few physical versions of Van Gogh’s or Pollacks to go around – with NFT’s there is an unlimited supply of them they can ‘buy and sell’ to each other without attracting too much attention – at least after the first couple huge sales. The residual market of celebrities conning dumbasses into investing in something stupid is just icing on the cake.

  44. 44.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 9:37 am

    @p.a.:

    After almost two years as a conservative rallying cry, Republicans may finally be over the war on woke.

    They switch buzzwords occasionally when normies figure out the last one is stupid bigotry.  There will be a new one that means exactly the same thing.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:40 am

    400 pages on the existential threat of “wokeness”

    ABOUT THE IDENTITY TRAP
    One of our leading public intellectuals traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity and social justice that is rapidly transforming America—and explains why it will fail to accomplish its noble goals
    For much of history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social justice came to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity to resist injustice.

    This is in addition to the entire NYTimes editorial page, all ungracefully aging male comics, 57 anti woke substacks, DeSantis, Rufo and Bari Weiss’ fake university. We needed a 400 page book about the impolite Yale law students and the student council at Oberlin.
    It just never ends. They cannot get enough of the woke panic. It’s all they talk about.
    Twenty years from now being part of the woke panic is going to be as shameful as supporting the unprovoked invasion of Iraq. We’ll survey the hundreds of thousands of words and think “WTF was wrong with those people?”

  46. 46.

    gene108

    August 19, 2023 at 9:41 am

    @Baud:

    Well, MSNBC is the only media outlet that kind of pitches itself to a liberal audience. You would think they would at least try to act differently.

    Isn’t MSNBC the bastard love child of Microsoft and Comcast?

    I doubt they have the editorial independence we wish they had.

  47. 47.

    RevRick

    August 19, 2023 at 9:43 am

    Simon Rosenberg at the Hopium Chronicles has some hopeful news regarding the state of the upcoming Presidential election. He notes that Biden leads Trump by an average of 2% in quality polls. This despite the fact that many Democrats are disengaged from the race, because we know who are nominee is and all the action is on the other side. He also cites polling that shows big trouble brewing for Republicans around the questions of abortion and treason, and the upcoming trials will keep those questions at the fore. All of this is also in the context of the massive disconnect between how voters rate Biden’s handling of the economy (only 34% favorable) and how they rate their own financial situation (60% doing great!)

  48. 48.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 9:45 am

    @gene108:

    They just don’t do a good job with complex subjects and since Democrats are the only group still attempting things like “health care reform” or “affordable college education”  – complex subjects- Democrats get all the downside of their coverage and none of the upside.

    Biden has been quietly reforming student loans for years now. It’s going really well! I just can’t help but think it’s better if media doesn’t know about it :)

  49. 49.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    August 19, 2023 at 9:46 am

    @Baud:

    “But NFTs are so disruptive of the status quo, and that’s exciting!”

    – some techbro who is heavily into crypto and NFTs

  50. 50.

    Ned F

    August 19, 2023 at 9:47 am

    @Baud:

    I’m glad to hear somebody out there noticed this. I do not watch MSNBC as I have no cable TV, but occasionally listen to Alex or Rachael on the next morning stream.  I gave up for the past two weeks, talk about indictment reporting overload. Switch it up guys.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 19, 2023 at 9:47 am

    Scott Walker is so lame that I don’t even remember specifically what an assclown he is.

    He’s definitely no Rick “Oops!” Perry.  Or JEB! “Please clap.” Bush.

    And that’s just sad!

  52. 52.

    Honus

    August 19, 2023 at 9:48 am

    @Kay: I see you’ve heard Oliver Anthony’s big hit Rich Men North of Richmond.

  53. 53.

    dlwchico

    August 19, 2023 at 9:48 am

    Has Trump tried telling the prosecutors that he has moved on and they should also?

  54. 54.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 19, 2023 at 9:49 am

    @Geminid: Oh, thank gawd. For moment I thought “Glen saying something nice about the Left, did I just have a stroke?”

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    August 19, 2023 at 9:51 am

    @gene108

    Microsoft hasn’t been in the picture for quite some time.

    On December 23, 2005, NBC Universal announced its acquisition of an additional 32 percent share of MSNBC from Microsoft, which solidified its control over television operations and allowed NBC to further consolidate MSNBC’s backroom operations with NBC News and its other cable properties. (The news website msnbc.com remained a separate joint venture between Microsoft and NBC for another seven years.) NBC later exercised its option to purchase Microsoft’s remaining 18 percent interest in MSNBC.
    [snip]
    MSNBC and its website msnbc.com were launched concurrently. Unlike the network, msnbc.com was operated as the general online news outlet of NBC News in partnership with Microsoft’s MSN.com portal. The network and website also remained editorially separate. The website did not adopt the network’s increasingly liberal viewpoints and remained a joint venture with Microsoft even after it had sold its stake in MSNBC.

    In July 2012, NBC acquired Microsoft’s remaining stake in msnbc.com and re-branded it as NBCNews.com. After being redirected to the new name for a period, msnbc.com was re-launched in 2013 as the website for MSNBC. The website included opinion columns from hosts, correspondents, and guests, along with live and on-demand videos from MSNBC programs. Source

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    August 19, 2023 at 9:54 am

    Reading about the horrible fires in Canada (and in Maui), I was reminded of playing SimEarth (I think it was) back in the olden days. I remember terraforming some remote planet, and cheating by using Oxygen Generators to quickly create an atmosphere, etc. If the oxygen content got above about 20% (the number on Earth), wildfires would break out everywhere. I don’t recall if that led to a run-away greenhouse effect that needed more Oxygen Generators to fight, but probably so…

    One would naively expect that the fires will lead to a drop in heating for a short period of time (months, maybe a handful of years; less sunlight reaches the surface, maybe more IR is reflected out into space), but it’s undoubtedly bad for the longer term because CO2 has a long residence time in the atmosphere (hundreds/thousands of years).

    :-(

    I hope Canada (and maybe Maui) are thinking about a crash program for replanting native trees as part of the recovery.

    We always have a choice in shaping the future.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 10:00 am

    @Kay: ​

    Twenty years from now being part of the woke panic is going to be as shameful as supporting the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

    Yes, and like that invasion, strangely nobody will be found who supported it. At the same time, the same jackasses, using some new buzzword, will be bitching about whatever minority just wants the right to exist.

  58. 58.

    sdhays

    August 19, 2023 at 10:01 am

    Re: the Sotheby’s NFT story – no one deserves any of this money. The people who invested were stupid greedy and don’t deserve to be reunited with their money, but Sotheby’s stamped its name on the scam to make it look legit – I think they should be investigated for fraud. And the scammers like Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber…well, this is their whole “business” distilled to its essence.

    Re: Alexandra Petri – Ms. Petri is who Maureen Dowd thinks she is – witty, intelligent, and righteous.

  59. 59.

    Salty Sam .

    August 19, 2023 at 10:01 am

    @Kay:   We’ll survey the hundreds of thousands of words and think “WTF was wrong with those people?”

    Heck, I’m thinking it now!

  60. 60.

    sdhays

    August 19, 2023 at 10:02 am

    @mrmoshpotato: What’s memorable about Scott Walker is how utterly forgettable he is.

  61. 61.

    twbrandt

    August 19, 2023 at 10:06 am

    @Nukular Biskits: at least you could plant tulips.

  62. 62.

    Sally

    August 19, 2023 at 10:10 am

    @Scout211: We may or may not be Woke, but at least we are Awake.

  63. 63.

    RaflW

    August 19, 2023 at 10:10 am

    OK, old guy comment: What does it mean when people say “based” like that. I’m assuming its another one of those fun internet traditions, this time probably picking on someone who mistyped “biased”.

    But it seems to have a more ironic, more – dare I say it – substantive (or just more stinging?) critique?

  64. 64.

    catclub

    August 19, 2023 at 10:10 am

    @gene108: ​
      If MSNBC was interested in acting differently they would not be giving Joe Scarborough – GOP Rep from Florida, two hours every morning.

  65. 65.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 10:14 am

    @RaflW:

    Short answer: ‘Based’ is something a cool person would do.

    Long answer: ‘Cringe’ is when you do something that other people think you should be embarrassed by.  It has a flipside where you do something with confidence and you don’t give a shit what other people think and that makes it cool.  That is ‘based’.  Except then the word becomes generalized to just being cool.

  66. 66.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    August 19, 2023 at 10:14 am

    @Richard Fox: You click on their profile and they’ve posted less than 10 times but have thousands of followers, naturally.

    Well, they cross-promote. My biggest source of NFT promotion is over Xbox live. They’ll send links to their discords, Twitter, whatever else. Mostly strangers, though I have one friend who had previously been into trading baseball and Pokémon cards for profit.

  67. 67.

    p.a.

    August 19, 2023 at 10:16 am

    Stunning (not stunning) when the “we’re white, we’re right!” was the original identity political movement.

    And the definition changes as white males are willing to fuck marry outside the “race”.

  68. 68.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 19, 2023 at 10:18 am

    @sdhays:

    Re: Alexandra Petri – Ms. Petri is who Maureen Dowd thinks she is – witty, intelligent, and righteous.

    I’m not exactly a scholar of the Bard, but …. I got a distinct feeling of Antony’s eulogy for Caesar, from this piece.  Let’s say, an “homage”.

  69. 69.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 19, 2023 at 10:20 am

    @RaflW: old fart here, too.  Maybe this?

    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=based

    A word used when you agree with something; or when you want to recognize someone for being themselves, i.e. courageous and unique or not caring what others think. Especially common in online political slang.

    The opposite of cringe, some times the opposite of biased.

    more at the link.

  70. 70.

    Danielx

    August 19, 2023 at 10:20 am

    @Spanky:

    Back in the day we used to refer to those as Chernobyl diapers – they glowed in the dark.

  71. 71.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    August 19, 2023 at 10:21 am

    Trump is in the pocket of Big Diaper.

    Pass it on.

  72. 72.

    frosty

    August 19, 2023 at 10:22 am

    @RaflW: I looked up “based” on Urban Dictionary. Yes, there’s a meaning, but it’s stupid and I’m no better informed. It either means you agree or it’s used ironically and it means you don’t. I think.

  73. 73.

    UncleEbeneezer

    August 19, 2023 at 10:22 am

    @Kay: He’ll get to that right after he acknowledges the fact that Biden essentially ended the use of DRONEZ!!1! and ended the war in Afghanistan (two things he was calling for, for years but then suddenly lost interest in, the moment a Dem President actually did them), this is to say: NEVER.

  74. 74.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 10:23 am

    @p.a.: ​

    And the definition changes as white males are willing to fuck marry outside the “race”.

    I do not think this is true. The definition changes as they need to expand the coalition to keep the most hated minorities crushed. They were always willing to fuck hated minorities, and indeed worked hard to keep their prerogative to do it without needing consent. Being willing to marry followed after a coalition change made the new members respectable. Sometimes long, long after. Their are definitely WASPs still around who would be upset if their children married someone with an Italian or Irish last name, and absolutely not allow them to marry a Catholic.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 10:28 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I knew the drones thing was bullshit because they sat down and shut up about it for Trump’s 4 years. They don’t care about drones.

    And you’re right about Afghanistan. It absolutely discredits the anti war Left that they didn’t defend Biden on it.

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 19, 2023 at 10:29 am

    @Baud: “Please buy my scam product.  Well, technically, it’s  not really a product, it’s more of a pure, notional nothing sort of thing.  If you buy it, a bunch  crypto-bros might thing you are savvy, but unless you unload on one of them quickly, and I do mean quickly, you will lose your shirt.”  It could work.

  77. 77.

    catclub

    August 19, 2023 at 10:31 am

    @frosty: There was a video that was all about that base (bass).

  78. 78.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 10:32 am

     

    @GovRonDeSantis
    Aug 18
    New College of Florida is blazing a trail of success and setting the standard for operating a university. The board abolished the school’s gender studies program and now has the highest enrollment in school history.
    Pushing indoctrination and handing out worthless degrees is no way to prepare students for successful careers.

    This is going to be an absolute disaster. A shame, of course, but we’ll all watch the anti woke hysteria prove out in this catastrophe so in that sense good for the larger project of public education.
    DeSantis has young children so I’ll give him a tip from a parent who has sent three to college – cancelled classes and fired professors upset parents who are paying because we want to get them out and graduated in 4 years.
    Once again, on the Right, the issue at the end of the day is incompetence. He’s ruining this college. They can’t even manage to get them all housed.

  79. 79.

    No One of Consequence

    August 19, 2023 at 10:33 am

    I have a new idea for a bumpersticker:

    ” If you have no interest in governance,
    please avoid politics. Thank you. ”

    Think anyone would buy one? More importantly, would they put it on their car?​

    Peace,
    – NOoC

  80. 80.

    M31

    August 19, 2023 at 10:34 am

    @frosty: It either means you agree or it’s used ironically and it means you don’t.

    yeah, right

  81. 81.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    August 19, 2023 at 10:38 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    “you do something with confidence and you don’t give a shit what other people think and that makes it cool.  That is ‘based’.”

    Then what’s “like a boss”?  (Or “bawss”, maybe?)

    There seem to be a lot of new ways to say “neato”, and what in tarnation was wrong with “the cat’s pajamas”, dammit?

    Kid’s the’se day’s …

  82. 82.

    RaflW

    August 19, 2023 at 10:39 am

    It doesn’t escape my notice that Petri’s piece, in the same paper, comes so soon after Ruth Marcus’s execrable “one too many” op ed. Smackdown! With precision humor!

  83. 83.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 19, 2023 at 10:43 am

    @catclub:

    There was a video that was all about that base (bass). 

    Who did it belong to?

  84. 84.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 10:44 am

    Matthew Yglesias
    @mattyglesias
    3h
    Congress is unlikely to pass a national abortion ban no matter what the president says, but a hostile FDA could make medication abortions (which is most abortions not a minor detail) illegal everywhere through administrative fiat.
    Aug 19, 2023 ·

    They’re still doing this. Still minimizing and denying. The cavalier, tossed off nature just kills me. They’re talking about womens lives and it’s “well, Susan Collins may save the day so settle down, ladies”.
    None of what has happened had penetrated this bubble. Women in 20 states are like “we’re bleeding out in the parking lot because refusal to treat miscarriages!” and it hasn’t changed centrist punditry at all.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 10:44 am

    Matthew Yglesias
    @mattyglesias
    3h
    Congress is unlikely to pass a national abortion ban no matter what the president says, but a hostile FDA could make medication abortions (which is most abortions not a minor detail) illegal everywhere through administrative fiat.
    Aug 19, 2023 ·

    They’re still doing this. Still minimizing and denying. The cavalier, tossed off nature just kills me. They’re talking about womens lives and it’s “well, Susan Collins may save the day so settle down, ladies”.
    None of what has happened had penetrated this bubble. Women in 20 states are like “we’re bleeding out in the parking lot because refusal to treat miscarriages!” and it hasn’t changed centrist punditry at all.

  86. 86.

    Nukular Biskits

    August 19, 2023 at 10:45 am

    Just got back from my morning walk. Yeah, I’m running little late today and it’s HOT outside.

    Saw one of these in the middle of the road:

    Copperhead

    I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a photo of my own.  I was actually a little surprised to see one sunning itself on the asphalt this late in the morning, with the air temp already around 90.

  87. 87.

    RaflW

    August 19, 2023 at 10:48 am

    @Rusty: Do NFTs use terawatts of electricity to keep their ‘unique’ pointers? Because that’s an added plus (well, minus of course) that the art world I’m sure elided. And by art world, I mean the hangers on who seek profit, not the creators.

    eta: Thanks BJers for the ‘based’ info. I will not attempt to use it, but I think I grok it now.

  88. 88.

    MattF

    August 19, 2023 at 10:48 am

    Once in a while, Miz Petri gets serious (gift link).

  89. 89.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 10:49 am

    Elizabeth Warren
    @ewarren
    59m
    Thanks to new funding that Democrats passed, the IRS has…
    ✅ Collected $38 million from 175 millionaire tax cheats in just the last few months
    ✅ Slashed wait times on phone calls from 28 minutes to 3 minutes
    ✅ Reduced their backlog of paper returns by 80%

    Democrats can run on this. It will be popular with normal people, although not with media or GOP operatives.

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 19, 2023 at 10:49 am

    @Baud: Don’t they many on-air personalities that attack Ds from the left?

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    August 19, 2023 at 10:49 am

    Meanwhile, … Phys.org:

    Imagine the weight of responsibility for caring for a child when you are not yet fully grown yourself, and the fear of being shamed by parents, fellow learners, and even strangers within the community?

    Vast numbers of adolescent mothers, many of them very vulnerable, exist across Africa, but there remains little research on their challenges and what can be done to support them and their children.

    Policies and programs are often small scale, poorly implemented, or not inclusive of adolescent parents.

    Detailing findings from the largest adolescent mother cohort study in sub-Saharan Africa, this article sheds light on some of the challenges they face, potential entry points for interventions and programs, and opportunities to support adolescent mothers and their children.

    […]

    Examining the relationship between poverty and school enrollment within this population, we identified two distinct routes towards a return to school:

    Route one: Lower household poverty drives schooling throughout pregnancy which, in turn, drives higher school return rates post-birth;

    Route two: Lower household poverty drives the use of daycare/crèche services which, in turn, drives higher school return rates post-birth.

    The large proportion of mothers—30% in our sample—who do not return to school might require substantial targeted support to re-engage with education.

    Our results suggest that financial support alone might not be sufficient to support adolescent mothers. But when combined with other resources, such as affordable daycare and services that support school retention during pregnancy, they could prove effective.

    […]

    It’s almost as if it takes a village… Leaving people to fend for themselves, or sending some inadequate cash, doesn’t solve systemic problems. Collective action does, and government (and politics) is how we decide how to do collective action. NOoC above’s bumpersticker idea is a good one. We need people in politics who want to do the work, not so many monsters who are just after fame and power.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 19, 2023 at 10:52 am

    @mrmoshpotato: PMJ represent!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnZ1NQm2uk&t=6s

  93. 93.

    Nukular Biskits

    August 19, 2023 at 10:53 am

    @Another Scott:

    Seconded.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:00 am

    Scott Walker discussing debate prep is like me comparing strategies for winning the high jump at the World Athletic Championships this weekend. I’m ready, yo.

  95. 95.

    japa21

    August 19, 2023 at 11:00 am

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: ​
      Well that’s the bee’s knees.

  96. 96.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:01 am

    @Kay: ​
    Little wonder Republicans are hellbent on slashing the IRS budget. The paymasters are…displeased.

  97. 97.

    RevRick

    August 19, 2023 at 11:01 am

    @RaflW: Whenever I’m confronted with a new word or acronym or quote, I just type it in to Google, and voila, answers.

  98. 98.

    ETtheLibrarian

    August 19, 2023 at 11:01 am

    It must have pained GG to type and hit publish on that tweet/whatever those things are called.

  99. 99.

    twbrandt

    August 19, 2023 at 11:03 am

    @Chetan Murthy: I love PMJ!

  100. 100.

    S Cerevisiae

    August 19, 2023 at 11:05 am

    I remember the whole NFT craze with all the celebrities pushing them and I couldn’t believe that people were actually stupid enough to pay real money for an ape JPEG? Turns out there are…

  101. 101.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:07 am

    @RaflW: ​
    Did Ruth look up in Miss Manners the correct indictment count adhered to by polite society? Is there another rule for how much criming is the correct and accepted amount of criming? Perhaps she’d like to gently guide Republicans, and especially Herr Trump, as to the fine points of the second.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:09 am

    @S Cerevisiae: FOMO is very powerful among we advanced apes.

  103. 103.

    Jackie

    August 19, 2023 at 11:10 am

    @catclub: Scarborough is ex GOP and has been since the GOP became the GQP.

  104. 104.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 11:12 am

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog:

    Then what’s “like a boss”?

    Doing something so well that it’s as if you are completely in charge.

    EXCEPT

    It’s more often than not used ironically, to indicate that no, the person is a dumbass.  There is no clear way to know which way it is being used, so it’s not used all that often.

  105. 105.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 19, 2023 at 11:14 am

    @S Cerevisiae: These are somewhat long, but I think they really get at the heart of the NFT craze.

    https://www.stormingtheivorytower.com/2021/06/the-nfts-aura-or-why-is-nft-art-so-ugly.html
    https://www.stormingtheivorytower.com/2021/07/the-nft-rube-goldberg-machine-or-why-is.html

    TL;DR Once upon a time, the art market consisted of people who purchased art and actually displayed it in their houses.  Then it moved on, to people who purchased/stored in “free ports”[1].  Eventually, people stopped even *seeing* the art they purchased and stored in those free ports, and artworks could be sold from one party to the next, to the next, all without ever being seen by purchasers, and certainly never leaving the free port.  What was really being bought-and-sold, was the *receipt* for the artwork.

    So some clever guy [“there’s a fine line between clever and stupid”] got the idea that if these people were literally selling the receipt  and never taking possession of the artwork, maybe they could do the whole thing one better, and dispense with the artwork!  I mean, nobody was actually looking at the artwork, taking possession of it, so did really need to *exist*?  Surely not!?!?!?!!  Genius!  Genius!  So much simpler, so much faster!

    There’s a lot more at the links, and it’s really interesting.  But that’s the nub of the theory.

    [1] warehouses sometimes  near ports/airports, where you can stored goods and transact, free of taxes and perhaps any reporting requirements.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 11:14 am

    @trollhattan:

    Ihave a little different take on “the paymasters” this cycle. I think Biden won’t get as much organized, funded pushback from business interests because the fact is we’re ALL making money. They’re doing really well in the Biden economy. Lower and middle are ALSO doing well, because Biden did some redistibutive and industrial policy and low unemployment meant workers were in demand, but PRODUCTIVE monied interests (so not the loudmouth celebrities like Elon Musk) are making a lot of money. They won’t be a huge factor in 2024.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:16 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: “Like a boss” shall forever be Nancy SMASH putting on sunglasses as she strolls into the sunlight.

  108. 108.

    Andrew Abshier

    August 19, 2023 at 11:17 am

    Ron DEESantis is the Herman Cain of Scott Walkers.

  109. 109.

    Andrew Abshier

    August 19, 2023 at 11:18 am

    @trollhattan: After leaving a meeting with 45 in the WH, I might add.  Tearing up his SOTU publicly is a close second.

  110. 110.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    August 19, 2023 at 11:21 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Doing something so well that it’s as if you are completely in charge.

    EXCEPT

    It’s more often than not used ironically, to indicate that no, the person is a dumbass.

    So … “My manager jumped onto the call and took over.  Like a boss!”

    Meaning either success or disaster — who knows?  Keen!

    (Kid’s the’se day’s!)

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:22 am

    @Andrew Abshier: Heh, you’re not wrong. Also, her ironic sideways clapping for him, arms extended.

    “Nancy, who I call ‘Nancy'” showed how much Trump fears her, given his love for bestowing nicknames on his enemies and basically anybody who doesn’t kiss his ass.

  112. 112.

    Anoniminous

    August 19, 2023 at 11:23 am

    @Rusty: ​

    “patent/intellectual property attorney ”

    Interesting.

    What’s your technology?

  113. 113.

    Citizen Alan

    August 19, 2023 at 11:25 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: I took that to mean that he thinks “democrats are unified” is something to complain about.

  114. 114.

    West of the Rockies

    August 19, 2023 at 11:25 am

    @artem1s:

    We went from liberal to politically correct to woke…

    I wonder what the next iteration will be.  “I’m so tired of Democrats telling us to be educated and fair!”

    That’s really what it comes down to.

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    August 19, 2023 at 11:26 am

    @Kay:

    At least he can’t actually hurt anyone in “journalism”.

    As a two-bit government meetings journalist, I respectfully disagree. You can hurt a hell of a lot of people with “journalism” as opposed to good-faith honest reporting. Ask the GOP commissioner in my county who just got recalled amidst smears of “pedophilia” from the right-wing “journal” in my neck of the woods. Guy who’s lived here for more than 30 years, facing abuse and death threats because of “journalists” on a jihad like Greenwald.

    Maybe GG can’t hurt as many people as he could as a bad-faith prosecutor, but he’s definitely sent people to prison. Ask Reality Winner, she could probably tell you about it. If you could reach her.

  116. 116.

    smith

    August 19, 2023 at 11:27 am

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: Greatly appreciate you’r sly comment on apostrophe’s.

    — From another Old who feels a twinge when confronted with rampant apostrophe abuse.

  117. 117.

    Hoodie

    August 19, 2023 at 11:28 am

    @Kay: New College was intentionally created as a niche school putting out  “worthless” degrees that most colleges underfund, not just another oversubscribed state satellite college campus generating thousands of business and marketing graduates that end up working at rental car counters.  I’m sure Mr. Yale/Harvard would send his kids there now that it will prepare them for successful careers.

  118. 118.

    MattF

    August 19, 2023 at 11:28 am

    @trollhattan: There’s a few words TFG uses to indicate extreme feelings. ‘Nasty’, which appears to be the worst thing he can say about a woman, applies to Pelosi. Another is ‘filthy’, which applies more generally.

  119. 119.

    Anoniminous

    August 19, 2023 at 11:33 am

    @Kay: ​
     

    At least he can’t actually hurt anyone in “journalism”.

    uh……….

    Please allow me to introduce Herr Paul Joseph Goebbels, Gauleiter of Berlin and Reich Minister of Propaganda.

    And I’ll toss-in the propaganda campaign that kowtowed Congress into voting for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

  120. 120.

    Eunicecycle

    August 19, 2023 at 11:34 am

    @trollhattan: my favorite picture of Nancy is the one where she’s leaning toward Trump over the table and pointing at him, and he looks scared. I think Trump briefly tried to use it to show how mean she is, and it backfired because it showed how “boss” she is!

  121. 121.

    Immanentize

    August 19, 2023 at 11:36 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    One, two — Get Down!
    Paid the Cost to be the Boss

  122. 122.

    zhena gogolia

    August 19, 2023 at 11:36 am

    @Baud: Right!

  123. 123.

    Miss Bianca

    August 19, 2023 at 11:37 am

    @No One of Consequence: I’d put that one on my car – and I am *not* a bumper sticker kind of person.

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    August 19, 2023 at 11:39 am

    @Andrew Abshier: i’m an Old so I think of DēSantis as the Pat Buchanan of Phil Gramms.

    IYKYK.

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    August 19, 2023 at 11:40 am

    @Andrew Abshier:

    And all the others at the meeting were penis-encumbered people.

  126. 126.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 19, 2023 at 11:42 am

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog:

    So … “My manager jumped onto the call and took over. Like a boss!”

    Meaning either success or disaster — who knows? Keen!

    Correct.  In that situation it can mean “Damn, my manager is good,” and it can mean “…and showed off just what a dumbass he is.”  You would only know with context clues.

  127. 127.

    Kay

    August 19, 2023 at 11:44 am

    @Hoodie:

     not just another oversubscribed state satellite college campus generating thousands of business and marketing graduates

    That’s exactly why I think it will fail. They can’t compete with a state satellite campus. It doesn’t make any sense to try. That end of the market is covered.
    It will fail because they’re bad at the business end, not the education end. Having a niche and knowing they had a niche is not just the educational mission- it’s the reason it thrived. They’re such reckless,wasteful people. They conduct dumb experiments constantly. Don’t forget the huge egos that tell them they know better than anyone who actually has run a college! That arrogance is an essential element of their failures.

  128. 128.

    Miss Bianca

    August 19, 2023 at 11:58 am

    @Kay: And yet, they keep getting to fail. Upwards and upwards. (Insert obligatory reference to Tom and Daisy Buchanan here.)

  129. 129.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    August 19, 2023 at 11:59 am

    @Kay: That arrogance is an essential element of their failures.

    This. It’s a natural law, like gravity.

  130. 130.

    opiejeanne

    August 19, 2023 at 12:34 pm

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: Or the bomb-diggety? Or peachy keen?

  131. 131.

    Shalimar

    August 19, 2023 at 12:45 pm

    @Kay: You know the answer to that question.  Glenn Greenwald does not make corrections or admit mistakes.  Ever.  Occasionally he will write a long screed to explain how it looks like he was wrong to lesser intelligences but he was actually correct.

  132. 132.

    Rusty

    August 19, 2023 at 12:51 pm

    @Anoniminous: I know it’s a bit funny to put it that way, but there are lots of lawyers out there that have generated one badly written licensing agreement and then call themselves intellectual property attorneys.   Being a patent attorney requires passing the patent bar, so a much more limited and welle defined group, but it sounds like your limited to patents and not broader areas of intellectual property.   So I am a registered patent attorney that also has an extensive history in IP related agreement work.  My degree is in physics but I am an inhouse counselwork primarily in electro-mechical patent work, but also have done a reasonable amount of technology licensing and software agreements.

  133. 133.

    No One of Consequence

    August 19, 2023 at 12:56 pm

    @Miss Bianca: ​
     

    Thank you, Miss. I have seen (just a couple) of positive, straight forward bumper stickers around lately. Shame on me for not remembering them all, but one was:

    I hope you have a pleasant day.

    That was it. I thought it was awesome.

    ” Consider Compassion ” – Maybe that one would sell.

    If I may, and I attempt this only because there may be one or two of you here, who are of like mind:

    I have been considering as of late, the Nature of our Current State. It is well-considered here, the pernicious problem of disinformation. I would include here *IN*accurate information too.

    Short of Critical Thought, accurate information should be something we all demand of each other. If information is not accurate, then at some point energy must be expended in it’s discrediting, disregarding and correcting. The sheer mass and scale of this problem compounds quickly, exponentially with the advent of digital communications, let alone social media. (This is not a novel observation, granted. But the recognition of the theft that is occurring of our collective futures, in the exchange of banality for betterment, impishness for improvement.)

    We’ve little time, nor spare intellectual capacity to be as inefficient and wasteful of our collective attention and deliberations. If we don’t find a sustainable path forward to exist on this rock, which side one opens one’s egg from won’t really matter. The discussion of the Moment needs involve far more pressing matters than some of our representatives in government deem allowable.

    ” I vote in order to be
    Represented, not Ruled. ”

    That’s a nice non-denominational one. Might sell on both sides of the aisle.

    Thanks for reading, you’re good humans here for the most part. Don’t be smug about it, but you should take some solace in the fact that curmudgeonly you/We may be, you/we’re not Totally Worthless Gobshites.

    Peace,
    -NOoC

  134. 134.

    steve g

    August 19, 2023 at 1:32 pm

    Greenwald was complaining that AOC is not an overt socialist anymore and that the Dems aren’t having a primary. He is miffed that the Dems don’t serve his own interests very well.

  135. 135.

    Anoniminous

    August 19, 2023 at 1:35 pm

    @Rusty: ​
     

    Thank you for the response. The tl;dr — we don’t fit.

    In a previous life I worked in and around IP for 20 years so have some knowledge of the process. Enough to know a background in the Science(s) of the technology is absolutely necessary. I’m working with Biomimetic Animats, at the intersection of Neuroscience and Soft Robotics. Thus, some fairly extensive knowledge of both is required. As Warren Warren put it, “One has to have a reasonable knowledge of both engineering and biology in his own head, and there is no use in having in one room what should be in one head. This has been a standard failure.”

  136. 136.

    Chris T.

    August 19, 2023 at 5:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    NFTs seem to me to be even more obviously scammy than bitcoin

    They are.

    Bitcoin at least operates as a medium of exchange—a flawed one, like trying to use actual silver (as in the metal, in the form of ingots or whatever) as money. It’s good for illegal trade, such as buying narcotics or sex (for licit commerce, US currency is generally superior).

    NFTs, by contrast, have no function at all, not even illicit commerce.

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