10 years ago today Obama dared to wear a tan suit to a press conference….becoming the biggest scandal in presidential history ?? pic.twitter.com/kpyD05CfXY
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) August 28, 2024
Our Most Visible Media Members all seem to consider ninth grade the pinnacle of their professional development. All of them wanted to be at the Kool Kids Table. Some of them actually were queen bees (Megyn Kelly had a rant on social media today complaining that Kaitlin Collins would never be a real newscaster if she couldn’t learn to smile more). Most of them held tenuous positions on the fringes of the Glorious Chosen as little remoras, alternately sucking up to their “betters” and punching down at the “losers” (just joking, tho!). No dignity whatsoever… barely an idea that ‘dignity’, as a concept, even exists.
Harris must do a solo interview. America needs to know that she can handle being asked about a thing Trump said or tweeted twelve times in a row in a one-on-one context
— The Great El Wokismo (@canderaid) August 28, 2024
2 Questions:
What was the “mainstream, traditional interview” that you saw that convinced you to vote for a presidential candidate?
Which current “mainstream, traditional outlet” would you like to see conduct a presidential interview? https://t.co/DFkTCNt8OG
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) August 28, 2024
We thought the press were bad at their jobs. Now we realize that we just disagree about what their jobs are. https://t.co/vz4DDtxxhF
— Jean-Michel Connard ??? (@torriangray) August 27, 2024
There’s a deep, chronic pathology about how journalists talk about Democrats. These people have lesions on their brains https://t.co/ltCMd0js7c
— The Great El Wokismo (@canderaid) August 28, 2024
You know @KamalaHarris nailed it perfectly when Maggie is reduced to putting this in the school paper. pic.twitter.com/an1Z2VyP3r
— ?? ?? BIG LEAGUE TRUTH ???????? SCHOOL BONDS DOG (@LeagueTruth) August 23, 2024
mad sympathy for the guys getting mad at NYT Pitchbot. They'll whine about him being unfair and then 5 minutes later the Times will publish an un-fact-checked oped with a title like 'How Trump Can Win on Character' https://t.co/9dTrvo7Wzy
— The Great El Wokismo (@canderaid) August 26, 2024
(If you missed that — yes, it was an actual article — it was not about TFG’s own sterling character, but on strategies where his team could muddy up Kamala’s character. *Just* like middle school!)
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
Dump doesn’t do any “independent” interviews and they don’t whine about that.
Always a double standard.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
Shorter: Kaitlin will never be a real woman until she undergoes extensive plastic surgery like Megyn
eclare
Obama looked fine in the tan suit. In addition to other faults, I think there was a lot of jealousy from the punditry knowing that they could never pull that suit off.
Chet Murthy
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch: Kaitlin will never be a real woman until she figures prominently in her boss’ divorce filing as the cause of said divorce.
opiejeanne
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:
In October I’m having eyelid surgery because my eyelids are now drooping so badly (ptosis) it’s starting to interfere with my ability to see well enough to drive. My favorite neighbor was over yesterday and when I told her about it she asked if I was going to have more work done. Laughed and told her I’d earned every one of the wrinkles on my face, but the suggestion conjured up the possibility of me looking like one of those women at Trump’s parties that have had so much work done they look unreal.
eclare
@opiejeanne:
My Aunt had that surgery on one of her eyelids a few months ago. She is very pleased with the outcome.
ColoradoGuy
These particular journos and pundits are a really small group. They live in enclaves in DC and NYC (the rest of the country doesn’t exist), they went to the most elite schools of the Ivy League, and they all go to the same cocktail parties. The NYT editors distill the acceptable boundaries of discourse, and the approved narratives fan out to second and third-tier sources from there.
My guess is there are fewer than a hundred people involved in Setting the Narrative, and probably fewer than ten editors Who Really Matter. It would be interesting to pull aside the veil of anonymity and see who the Wizards Behind the Curtain really are.
And who is paying them, for how much. The same questions we need to ask the Supremes.
mrmoshpotato
I really don’t understand why Ms. Santa is white, kids! doesn’t just shut up and live out the rest of her miserable life with the 60+ million dollars that she got for doing nothing but being a sentient pile of shit.
eclare
@mrmoshpotato:
I don’t understand that about a lot of people. If I somehow made a fortune, I’d be content to fade away, enjoy life.
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: Same reason Norma Desmond wanted to get one last starring role, I suppose.
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: It wasn’t made; it was GTFO! money.
Yes, I know it was the rest of her contract that NBC? stupidly put before her.
Ukai
@mrmoshpotato: It’s natural to desire relevancy, but some desire it in more disproportionate contexts than others.
SpaceUnit
A tan suit. And there were children watching.
mrmoshpotato
LMAO! Shield your eyes from the tanness of the suit, children!
mrmoshpotato
@Ukai: Especially more with black hole for a soul.
Jay
So, we got the MRI results today, in addition to colon cancer, T has a 11cm pelvic lesion, which may or may not be benign.
In addition, we learned that our BFF Bob, has to have an operation to “kill” the nerves in his heart and have the Pacemaker do all the work.
Fun times.
On the bright side, they finally proscribed painkillers to T for the constant abdominal pain.
divF
As I commented at the end of this morning’s (by then dead) thread:
I would like her to answer the question of why she hasn’t been giving inteviews to the MSM along the lines of, “I’ve been busy introducing myself as a candidate to the American people. The MSM media wasn’t going to be of much use for that: let’s face it, the national political media simply doesn’t have the size audience that it used to.” If she really wanted to twist the knife, she could say “you, and the rest of the national political media”.
And then if they get all huffy, back it up with the actual numbers illustrating the decline in viewership for CNN.
Telsiree
The Foxification of all news media in this country is complete.
It’s The New Fox Times now. The Fox-ington Post. The Fox Sun. The Fox Inquirer. Fox News Network. Fox NBC. Fox-PR News.
Make them own it. Compare them to the disposable Barbie Factory models that regurgitate Republican talking points. Assume every journalist these days is working for News Corp and dear old uncle grandpa Rupert personally. You’ll never be disappointed.
eclare
@Jay:
I’m so sorry for all of the bad news.
Jay
@eclare:
Thank you,
It is what it is.
We just have to walk this path as best as we can.
SpaceUnit
@Jay:
Wasn’t aware of all this. I’m sending your people whatever good mojo I can muster.
Rusty
@Jay: Sending prayers for all of you, those are heavy loads each of you are carrying. May you be able to find a few moments of peace through all of it.
Jay
@SpaceUnit:
@Rusty:
Thank you both.
T has a consult with the surgeon on Friday, so we will learn more.
In the next week or two her Dr and the 3 Specialists will probably come up with a treatment plan.
TBone
@Telsiree: that’s not a bad strategy. When I saw this just now, I was dubious about being awake – not sure I’m not still asleep and dreaming:
What the actual fuck.
TBone
@Jay: my best wishes to you both. It seems like a long time has passed since this journey started – waiting this long for test results and pain meds seems cruel to me. I hope I’m not out of bounds in making that observation, or even better, just plain wrong about it.
May the journey lead to the best possible outcome for all concerned and their loved ones!
TBone
I want to start a news network where all female broadcasters read the news straight up but interspersed with really colorful epithets where necessary. I think it would catch on.
The Mash Report (British version of The Daily Show):
https://x.com/ShitzN_Giggles/status/1816124006807863691
Jay
@TBone:
Not out of bounds,
It’s Canadian Healthcare. It eventually get’s done, but it’s free.
Covid of course “f’d it up. T’s family doctor is via TeleHealth, (now), she’s actually been face to face with him twice, after 3 years when symptoms first showed up.
The cancer diagnosis has sped things up quite a bit.
And of course, most of us don’t have a “family doctor”.
And then of course, we have to “manage” our healthcare. Educate our selves, do the research, push back, do drug comparisons, ( although we have a great pharmacist just down stairs), etc.
It is what it is, has been for a couple of decades, but I love T to death, so, if I have to spend 4 hours learning everything about pelvic lesions, I will, and did.*
*Do not look at the photos. I have filleted flounder and sole from the inner harbour that were less disgusting.
TBone
@Jay: I am in awe of you. While I’m upset about the wait times, I am seriously impressed that you are using time educating yourselves. My family and friends did no such thing when I got sick, preferring instead to believe I was a malingerer.
To look at things head on takes courage and fortitude. May your reserves always be replenished.
TBone
How did I get so lucky to meet a man like the one I have? He’s doing the kitchen chores while I sit outside and have my coffee, and he’s singing. “Country road, take me home…” West by God Virginia. Kitchen window is closed but his voice carries.
Today I will not make fun of his non-existent ability to carry a tune, or ask him what he did with the money his mom gave him for singing lessons. I will cherish every sour note and missung lyric because how did I get so lucky.
Suzanne,
@eclare:
Um…. yeah. LOL.
They have always been envious that he is good-looking, intelligent, and really cool.
Suzanne,
@Jay: Hugs and best wishes for T, and for you.
Suzanne,
Obama posted a tweet of him and Kamala in tan suits. LOL. Love the trolling.
Jay
@TBone:
For most things, the wait time is not that bad, Covid did “f” things up, and it doesn’t help that both T and I are “stoic”.
At The Orange, I split my head open, (27 stiches and a concussion), (during quarantine) did not want First Aid to deal with it, (had to), then had to have them get my backpack, because they did not have the means in their First Aid kit or the training to deal with it.
Had a couple of QuickClots and the right bandages in my backpack, ( along with a Narcon Kit, sutures, etc, still do).
Nice no contact handoff at the ER after a 2 hour wait for the ambulance, (they were busy), a 1 hour wait for the ER, stiches, concussion tests.
Out an hour later.
Idiot me, went back to work after the 24 hours of “don’t sleep, don’t eat, don’t vomit advise”. That sucked. Gotta pay bills.
Jay
@Suzanne,:
Thank you.
Liminal Owl
@Jay: I’m so sorry. Sending good energy in your direction.
Liminal Owl
@Suzanne,: Yes, that was lovely.
How much of the snark and jealousy was because (many? most?) of us pasty-white folks could never look good in tan?
Tangentially, in case it hasn’t already been noted here, someone on FB referred to J. Divans as “Hillbilli Vanilli,” and I am grinning.
TBone
@Jay: jiminy cricket! Stoic has become a learned behavior for me because so many bad experiences with our medical system piled up, one after the other, in a huge heap. But there are times when there is no choice but to seek help! I hope you find a good balance between stoicism and seeking care, and we can be grateful that these people don’t charge by the hour. Because you know wait times would come with a fee if they could get away with that.
I’m glad your healthcare there is free!
matt
In my experience, actual voters ask much better questions than these spoiled little pukes of the press. I’d rather see 1 town hall with voters asking questions about policy than 10 of these ‘hard hitting interviews’ where I get to see answers to 20 carefully crafted Zen koan gotchas.
MomSense
@Jay:
I’m so sorry to hear this news. Sending support to you and T.
Jay
@Liminal Owl:
Thank you.
Jay
@MomSense:
Thank you.
MomSense
@Suzanne,:
The Kamalahq Instagram account posted a long, unhinged comment from trump about Harris with the simple caption “rent free”. Her social media team is fantastic. They hired a team of zoomers and they cannot be beat.
Princess
I am a voter and indeed I’d love to see both candidates subject themselves to tough interesting independent questions. When pigs fly will Trump allow that and the press will never even ask it of him. So Harris, should follow his lead and do what’s best for her.
TBone
@TBone: 🎶❤️😍🎶
https://youtu.be/w7HJZPlJn_U
Choir practice
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
Interesting choice of wording. ;-)
hueyplong
@Liminal Owl: “Hillbilli Vanilli” is great, though, sad for me personally to say, probably too outdated for the Harris attack team.
Matt McIrvin
“We need to be allowed to ask her racist and sexist questions, claiming to be merely expressing the views of the silent majority, so that when she calls that silent majority out as being racist and sexist we can destroy her.”
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: she’s got their numbers. So do we!
Fave xit yesterday: “I regret that I have but one NYT subscription to cancel for my country.”
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: I’m so sorry for this situation, Jay. I am glad you have each other in this life.
hueyplong
@Matt McIrvin: The job is to make sure she’s one of those “arrogant” and “entitled,” yet “angry” blacks, as well as someone who attained her lofty position through affirmative action and the casting couch, though that last term might need some replacing in light of recent conventional wisdom. They’ll go with BJs, the better to evoke memories of the criminal Clinton family, the horndog (har har) and its murderess, lesbian matriarch.
Suzanne,
@MomSense: The media team around Harris is so good, and the vibe shift happened so fast….. it makes me think that they all wanted to have this level of sharpness, but Biden didn’t want it. I get it, he’s a different person and has always been a bit more “old school” in his presentation. But this team is effective AF.
TBone
Help, help, all my apes is gone! 😆
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sec-just-gave-opensea-a-wells-notice-heres-what-that-means-for-the-nft-platform-a52196eb
EarthWindFire
@Jay: I’m so sorry. Wishing for the best outcome possible.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jay:
Small consolation but you’re getting a lot of positive waves from the assembled masses here.
Hoping for the best in all of this. I’ve watched one friend beat colon cancer so that’s the picture I envision here.
EarthWindFire
Me too. But I’ve learned that I’m more likely to get that from Teen Vogue than the MSM.
I’d really love to see them answer the “how are you gonna pay for that” question with “you know, I think our middle class tax cut will raise the revenue”, just to watch the pundit heads explode.
NotMax
All set for Saturday’s meet-up at 5 p.m. at Pershing Square Cafe.
Reservation under my nom de meet-up, Jack Alworthy. (NOT my IRL name, say it aloud real fast.)
Princess
@Suzanne,: Yeah, it’s the same team, at least at the core. Biden always had better funnier online presence than Harris – she came across as an earnest stick as VP while his team was having fun with ice cream and dark Brandon. But it’s clear now that was deliberate and they’ve shifted gears in working for her.
Princess
@EarthWindFire: Evidently those communists at Penn Wharton B school think her plans will add a trillion to the deficit while Trump will add 5 times that.
TBone
@NotMax: I hope you all have all the fun! Great meetup name 😊
MagdaInBlack
@NotMax: Since I live vicariously, I’ve found my menu choice: Seared Tuna Nicoise.
You all behave, Jack Alworthy’s 😊
Eta: OOOh, I found the dessert menu: NY Cheesecake, of course.
Ocotillo
I will go to my grave not understanding what the deal with the tan suit was. I specifically recall Reagan wearing a tan suit as president and actually liking it enough that I went out and got a tan suit. I wasn’t a Reagan fan but I liked the idea of being able to wear something different from navy or gray when it came to suits.
p.a.
@Jay: Sending all the good vibes I can.
Suzanne,
@Ocotillo: Do you follow the menswear guy on Xhitter? He had a good thread about the tan suit. He thought the faux outrage was ridiculous and that the tan suit was certainly appropriate for slightly more casual parts of the job. He also pointed out formality in the suit choices of Robert Mueller (dark wool suits, white shirts, conservative color ties) and then pointed out instances when Obama wore similar clothing, such as when announcing the death of Osama bin Laden.
Frankensteinbeck
@ColoradoGuy:
I have always believed this, and I think it is the biggest cause of Pundit Brain Disease. Like a clique of mean girls they control who joins, so their biases are rarely challenged. They are obsessed with their status and think they’re the coolest people alive and anyone who doesn’t bow to that must be punished. ‘Everyone’ must be talking about what they talk to each other about. They’re superficial as Hell.
@TBone:
It’s remarkable how many women swallow misogyny whole, but maybe less remarkable when you consider that rape-enabling men control who gets to be in the club. #MeToo proved that beyond doubt.
TBone
@Frankensteinbeck: unfortunate choice of the word ‘swallow’ in light of Donold’s latest attempt to grab headlines using a sexual smear. 😆
I hope these “real men” wake the fuck up before we, the woke, sew them all into their beds and wallop them severely. Because until they do, those women must remain cowed in the interest of self preservation.
MomSense
@Ocotillo:
The sheriff was near.
Wanderer
@Jay: I am saddened to hear this news. Having a diagnosis changes everything and treatment can begin. It’s good that T now has some pain meds. Your posts here have always shown compassion, strength and kindness and your support for T will certainly be so important to both of you during this process. I hope you both get the best news possible as this moves forward.
Geo Wilcox
@Telsiree: And because of this there will not be a “MSM” in ten years. They have killed themselves by morphing into something no one under the age of 65 wants to watch.
TBone
A great primer on housing policy!
https://mailchi.mp/damemagazine/kamalas-blueprint-an-end-to-the-housing-crisis-8299583?e=1e403b36f2
Betty
@matt: I agree. Town halls would let the tv folks have some publicity while giving the candidates the chance to address their policies instead of answering gotcha questions.
Baud
@Betty:
If the media selects the town hall, they’ll all be undecided voters who are voting for Trump but say they have an open mind.
No thanks.
Baud
@Jay:
Sorry to hear about the diagnosis.
eclare
@Ocotillo:
I’m from the south, and my Democratic US rep sometimes wears a seersucker suit!
Spanky
@NotMax: I just use “Donner”. I’m always surprised that no one else ever seems to do the same.
eclare
@Baud:
Yep.
eclare
@Spanky:
Ha!
TBone
@Spanky: 😆
stinger
Media, if she appears with Walz: “Why can’t you appear solo?”
Media, if she appears solo: “Why are you hiding your vice president?”
You can’t win with these people.
TBone
The latest Fascistbook saga. WTF Mark, you’re SO not hot!
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/28/trumps-accidental-admission-and-zuckerbergs-surrender-the-real-takeaways-from-metas-letter/
What a cuck.
TBone
eclare: I was proud of my brother’s former best friend (who is rather rotund) when he showed up to the wedding in a seersucker suit in September in PA. It made a statement, and it turns out that it was the correct statement!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jay: I hope the pain meds help T.
Sucky test results.
sab
@TBone: I thought Kaitlin Collins aspired to be an actual reporter rather than just a newscaster.
Baud
@TBone:
I think you replied to the wrong comment
ETA : You fixed it.
Betty Cracker
One of us!
From a TPM article on Trump’s insane posting spree after the superseding indictment dropped.
TBone
@Baud: 👍 coffee not battling back humidity-induced brain fog yet
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
The NYT will correct it in its reporting.
Nice though.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: heh.
It’s a speaking indictment this time!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ocotillo: I’m sort of surprised Obama noticed and remembered the tan suit nonsense well enough to post about it 10 years later.
stinger
@Ocotillo: It wasn’t like he was meeting with foreign leaders. He was giving a press conference. To the U.S. media. Them. They think they deserve a dark suit.
The Audacity of Krope
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s one of those generational things. Everyone I talk to knows where they were the day Obama wore the tan suit. Don’t you?
TBone
@sab: not having the original insulting putdown at hand (not sure what is verbatim there), I don’t know how to respond vehemently and I really don’t watch much Kaitlin to begin with. But I know Megyn Kelly is an asshole, so there’s that!
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
There’s an XKCD for that. (Isn’t there always?)
Dorothy A. Winsor
In our dreams.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@sab:
Well, her first job was with The Daily Caller so that reflects poorly on wanting to be a “reporter”.
OTOH, she was banned by the Orange Fart Cloud’s WH for asking questions during an event she was covering as a pool reporter after she’d been hired by CNN.
Oh man, I just read the rest of Kelly’s comments. JFC what a piece of work.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@The Audacity of Krope: I’m wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt that reads “Nevertheless she persisted,” and I’m about to record a tiktok about how much I hate the characters in a mega-popular YA novel. My awareness of appropriate dress and behavior may be limited. :-)
The Audacity of Krope
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That sounds like perfectly appropriate social media influencer attire.
Curious, which YA novel?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Ooh, are you going to start a YA war? I may download TikTok to watch.
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: The revolution will be available on streaming…
TBone
@Dorothy A. Winsor: stand your ground!
Layer8Problem
@Jay: So sorry to hear this, hoping for the best.
The Audacity of Krope
@Jay: Fuck cancer. And best of luck.
narya
@Jay: I’m throwing my good wishes on to the pile . . . also, if you’re interested, check out clinical trials dot gov–even though it’s a US website, it includes clinical trial locations around the world.
Layer8Problem
@NotMax: I am in a spot, since my partner scheduled the latest flavor of Covid shot for us for this afternoon. and we could use those for our upcoming Big Trip. I hope to be there, but may be hors de combat as we say in IT depending on how much I react to it.
Soprano2
@Jay: I’m so sorry, that sounds rough. I’ll have good thoughts for you. Right now I’m waiting with my husband for him to get a bone marrow biopsy. They’re trying to figure out if his irregular red blood cells are caused by his kidney disease or multiple myeloma.
Starfish
@opiejeanne: There are a lot of people who have had work done who look nice. It seems to take multiple multiple surgeries to achieve the failure that the women around Trump have achieved.
My husband’s father had the surgery you are going to get, and after a certain percentage of interfering with vision, that surgery gets covered by insurance. He was really happy with the outcome of his surgery.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I just clicked over to your web site for the first time, then to your post History and Biography post…that then resulted in purchasing ‘The Wager’.
Thanks!
Starfish
@ColoradoGuy: I bet they are all white men, and they are further and further disconnected from the pluralism that most people would prefer.
Starfish
@Jay: Oh, I am so sorry that this is turning out worse than expected.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@The Audacity of Krope: Heir of Fire, the third book in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass. The characters all make me want to slap them. And yet I keep reading.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I’ll be lucky to get 300 views, so the war will be more of a skirmish.
@TBone: Thanks! I’m happy for other people to love these books. I’m just blind to whatever the charm is.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Oh wow. I hope you like it. Though “like” may be the wrong word. It’s a pretty grim adventure.
trnc
@divF: Good concept, but I’d slim it down to “We have to reach a lot of voters who aren’t watching cable news.”
trnc
@Jay: Ugh. Sorry to hear all that.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’ve read his “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
Plus, I read a lot of grim. ;)
PST
@opiejeanne: I’m just adding my name to the list of people who have had that eyelid surgery and are happy with the result. Because of swelling, it takes a few days to see how well it worked.
The Audacity of Krope
@Dorothy A. Winsor: So all the appeal of a trainwreck, huh?
Beautiful Creatures was that way for me. Loved the setting and way the world of the story worked.
In the first one especially, a lot of time spent whining, knowing the “right” thing to do and refusing to commit. They didn’t see their own agency.
The young leads got better in later books, so I attributed it to immaturity.
Liminal Owl
@hueyplong: Agreed re: outdated, but it works for us older folks.
PST
Not sure anyone has mentioned yet the new USA Today/Suffolk University poll putting Harris up by 4.3 percent. That approaches the kind of margin needed to be confident of overcoming the electoral college bias.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: I agree. He looks GOOD in that tan suit.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@The Audacity of Krope: I’m in the middle of the book so maybe it’s a supposed to be a trainwreck. But it’s a damn annoying one.
Gloria DryGarden
I just got it. Shit. I had thought it was gonna be about his own shining character. Good grief.
Raven
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Try “The Indifferent Stars Above” about the Donner Party. Really interesting despite the subject.
Trivia Man
@Suzanne,: Very similar outrage around the same time when Obama was shown with his feet on the desk. And again when he wore a pair of Levis. SO DISRESPECTFUL!! The ‘uppity’ was unsaid.
Almost immediately pictures were found of st ronnie and Shrub doing the same things.
Trivia Man
@lowtechcyclist: one of the Colorado universities has a student dining hall named after a local cannibal. Alfred Packer i think. Political angle to the story from the old frontier days: “Dang it! We only had 8 democrats in the county and he ate 4 of them!”
Trivia Man
@Dorothy A. Winsor: celebrities and influencers can dress as they please – go knock em dead!
Timill
@Trivia Man:
UC Boulder Alferd Packer Grill
Trivia Man
@Soprano2: PSA: if any of you are young enough, please consider signing up to the bone marrow donor registry. Just a cheek swab. I was called once, during covid, but the patient was eventually found unsuitable. Now i am too old but some of you are not! Very low effort to sign up, potentially life saving.
Chris
@ColoradoGuy:
As someone who went from conservative to liberal and from supporter to detractor of the Iraq War in the middle of the 2000s when I was still a teenager…
… one thing I didn’t start to realize until years after that change (when I discovered liberal blogs and got a whiff of what actual no-pulled punches critiques could be) was just how hard the media had worked to constrain all Iraq War discourse within a spectrum that went from Donald Rumsfeld on the right to Colin Powell (who, as time went by and the war got less popular, was increasingly reinvented as some sort of crypto-anti-war-activist, who might have technically supported the war but he didn’t really mean it, either that or he would’ve done it right if he’d been in charge) on the left.
Anybody who had actually opposed the war was completely off-limits. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were semi-acceptable because they’d proven their Seriousness by supporting it at first, but even they were kinda sus because they turned against it so fast like lame flip-floppers. It wasn’t until Barack Obama became a presidential candidate with a real shot of winning that a person who had actually been right about the Iraq War from the start was treated as mainstream and respectable. (And even then they never treated him with the seriousness they did Powell).
Starfish
@Timill: UC is the University of California. CU is the University of California East that is located in Colorado.
MomSense
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Speaking of YA novels, I’m really bummed about the casting and reviews I’ve seen for the Uglies movie. I loved the first three in that series. Extras was meh but the others were great.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MomSense: I remember listening to those books in the car while I commuted 90 miles to Ames each week. That would be a hard movie to cast, given the premise. It’s been a while, but I recall enjoying the book.
Chris
@Princess:
I agree, which is why I think we should put them in a third grade classroom and let the kids ask the candidates as many questions as they want on any topic they want.
We’re far more likely to get tough, relevant, and interesting questions from them than we are from the people who spent the entire 1990s writing about Hillary Clinton’s hair and Bill Clinton’s penis, and somehow have only managed to become more vapid and content-free in the ensuing quarter-century.
George
@eclare:
That’s why people like you, and me, never make fortunes. My guess is that there is a high degree of narcissism if not outright sociopathy in most of the people who get filthy rich. The money itself is not what they crave–as you note, a sane person would make a few million and then kick back and enjoy life.
That’s not good enough for the filthy rich. Money is just a vector they use for domination, manipulation, and control, which is what they really are after.
Chris
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t think it ever got released in English, but the 1990s film Ridicule is the one I always think of when looking at the national media. It’s set in the Court of Versailles in the waning days of the French monarchy, and the thesis statement is that the entire court functions effectively on the same rules as middle school – everyone’s desperately scrambling to be one of the cool kids, desperately struggling to make sure at least they’re not one of the losers, and more often than not doing so by kicking other people down to loser status.
I doubt if the people who made the film follow American politics deeply, but I suspect that if you sent them that article about the Cult of Savviness, they’d understand completely. The punditariat wants to be America’s royal court.
Chris
@George:
Money is there so that other people have to notice and acknowledge you.
A blogger I used to read once said that the reason the rich keep sucking up more and more money and then sitting on it like a dragon instead of curing cancer or whatever isn’t because they want it for anything in particular, it’s so we can’t have it.
Dave
@matt: What’s impressive about this is that a lot of voters ask pretty bad questions but they still ask questions that are head and shoulders above the people who are supposed to ask questions professionally.
Which should be very sobering for members of the press and lead to some serious examination of their assumptions but that won’t happen because the ones inclined to do this will never be given a job at the national level.
Nettoyeur
@matt: The TV “press” are so overpaid that it doesn’t matter to them what awful policies get enacted by the neofascists. They can jetset for abortions or other medical care and vacation wherever. Like all rich people what matters to them more is tax reduction so that they can ultimately live on capital gains income taxed at low rates.
Nettoyeur
@Chris: I was living in France when the film Ridicule was released and it is indeed right on target. It is based on the story of a minor nobleman who devoted himself to improving the water quality of his region to help its residents. He lost his title with the Revolution but retained the esteem of his fellow citizens. The courtiers who had frustrated his attempts to improve things either list their heads or escaped to England.
Scout211
@Jay: @Soprano2:
Sending good thoughts and strength to both of you and your loved ones for the best possible outcomes.
❤️❤️❤️
karen gail
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have read Sarah J Maas books and I totally regret have purchased them rather than finding them at library. (I have stayed away from library here since so many people smoke and it soaks into books. I can’t deal with nicotine-soaked books.) She consistently comes up with character who I want to slap silly or face punch; like the story lines just hate many of her character.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
that have had so much work done they look unreal.
They are unreal. They want to be something they aren’t. They have to be perfect, but they are human. OK, so it’s likely they are human. And perfect we aren’t. None of us. We can be better, we can be worse. But perfect? Not even close. How one looks is how one looks. We can tart up our looks, we can make our looks worse, but we are what we are. Some can never accept that and do anything to change it. How often does it hurt rather than help?
Ruckus
@eclare:
AHHHH! You misunderstand the concept of must be perfect. Rather than actually human. Some are never satisfied about that because they have to be something they aren’t, be it perfect, taller, skinnier, richer, well liked, well known, all of the above, whatever. They can’t accept what and who they are.
Paul in KY
@Jay: Very sorry to hear that about T. Hopefully the docs can fix it up & glad the pain meds are there now.
Paul in KY
@Chris: They all want to be ‘war correspondents’. Michael Kelly got to do that…
rikyrah
@Jay:
Prayers for you.