It has been a hectic day. I had to put off my bank run. I kept my debit card pin on the back of an unrelated business card in my wallet, and cleaning out my wallet before cataract surgery, I accidentally discarded the card. I had to call my bank. They have reset the pin and are mailing it to me. I’ll have it by the end of the week. Then I had to call Amazon to straighten out a delivery problem. I also had to schedule a Tri-Met Lift ride for Monday’s eye appointment with Christine. Yesterday’s 92° set another record. Today’s forecast is only 91°, followed by three days in the high 90°s. OGIM!! (Oh God It’s Monday!!).
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:28 (average 5:48). To do it click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Media Matters: Recent rumors indicate that Megyn Kelly may take over Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. time slot on Fox News. But the factors in play are much bigger than one hour a night. The imminent Fox News primetime shakeup is more about Fox News’ own brand of misinformation being set to surpass the blunter approach of Rush Limbaugh and right-wing radio hosts.
For a brief bit of historical context before we get to the rumor itself, Fox News’ approach in many ways grew out of Rush Limbaugh’s short-lived television show. Roger Ailes famously produced the show and would take lessons from there to Fox News where he is still the CEO. (As well as taking lessons from his time as a Republican operative, which are well-documented.) And the further back you look at Fox, the more it resembles the worst aspects of Limbaugh’s show. But as Fox has grown, it’s adapted, allowing it to more effectively advance a political agenda.
This adaptation was on full display in Roger Ailes’ 2011 admission to Howard Kurtz, who has since moved to Fox, that Fox News needed to make a "course correction." The big picture result of this is Fox still pushing demonstrable misinformation, but doing so in a way other news networks will be more likely to pick up rather than mock. Their audience might not have had a problem with the old Fox News (at least, Roger Ailes gave no indication that they did), but the network’s reputation was in tatters. (As an aside, CNN’s recent pushing of right-wing Benghazi myths only emphasize the risk of Fox’s revised approach.)
Beware the new PR of the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, but Megyn Kelly is still Bagger bait.
RESIST!!
From Daily Kos:
We now continue our ongoing series exploring just how low Trump’s Republican enablers can sink in their attempts to protect him from our nation’s rule of law. Exhibit the whateverth: Newt Effing Gingrich [Fascist delinked].
President Trump got 68.63% in West Virginia, 4.8% in Washingtoin DC. Guess where Mueller has a grand jury? Guess how biased it will be?
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) August 6, 2017
Now, let’s all first take the necessary moment to just take this masterpiece of bizarre post-modernism in. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, not long ago a Republican presidential candidate himself, appears to be arguing that the whole notion of prosecuting allies of Donald Trump, sitting president, for crimes they are suspected of committing is tainted or invalid because the crimes are suspected of taking place in a location in which Donald Trump is not popular.
Mind you, for all we know the Donald Trump campaign and/or White House may have committed crimes in West Virginia as well. If that is the case, Newt Gingrich can look forward to getting his wish.
What can I say, beyond what I’ve said all along? Newter Newt!! RESIST!!
From NY Times: Vice President Mike Pence declared his loyalty to President Trump on Sunday and denounced a New York Times article suggesting that he was positioning himself to run for president in 2020 if Mr. Trump does not seek a second term.
“Today’s article in The New York Times is disgraceful and offensive to me, my family and our entire team,” the vice president said in a statement [Fascist Theocon delinked]. “The allegations in this article are categorically false and represent just the latest attempt by the media to divide this administration.”
He added: “Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president’s agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd.”
How do you spell B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T? On the off chance that the Rectum Reich of Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten survives to 2020, and Putin’s Piddle Puppet seeks re-installation by Russia, Pence will be campaigning, along with a dozen others. We must remember now that the hateful policies Trump is pursuing now are not his own, but what Republicans have craved for years. But it hurts them that Trump brags about what they lie about. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
Vintage 2011 and spot-on today.
19 Responses to “Open Thread – 8/7/2017”
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IMHO, TomCat, your cartoon is much too optimistic.
Whoa, sounds as though you’ve had a helluva week! We all do.
WRT the Cartoon, I’m w/ you, Freya.
In fact w/ petulant toddler-temper-tantrum Trump in the wheelhouse, I’m actually quite worried that something like this might be in our future …
I stand corrected!
5:29 Aaaw – how sweet.
I kind of wish I could send you our weather today. High 60’s-low 70’s and rain.
Trae Crowder, the liberal redneck, and his two buddies who, with him, make up wellRED Comedy, are going to be in Kansas City, MO on 8/26-27, Lexington, KY 9/14-16, and Portland, OR on 12/21-23. In 2018 they hve some shows in Texas, but not in 2017. I have the complete (so far) schedule through January and early, not-open-to-the-public ticket links (as do all subscribers, of course) if anyone cares.
MM – And then there’s this.
DKos – Of course Republicans suspect everyone of deciding justice on the basis of bias instead of fact. THEY all do.
NYT – What’s laughable is that he has the gall to deny it. It’s so obvious even some Republicans can see it.
Cartoon – I doubt if they are going to leave even bare arches standing. That pic just shows them waiting for enough people of color to get beneath it before they take it down.
Trump TV — that is truly disturbing!!! Figures Drumpf would try to bamboozle the electorate, and succeed in some cases . . . like low information Republican voters. Thanks JD!
Yeah, it makes Faux look like kindergarten stuff, doesn’t it.
I fully agree about the Sinclair network becoming a more extreme version of Faux Noise, and the Republic an plan to force it into 70% of us households.
This isn’t even Sinclair (which I agree is out-Fox-ing Fox), it is actual “Trump TV.” For now it is on his Facebook page – but who knows how much farther it may spread.
What Trump and Sinclair are doing is FAR worse!
MM: I don’t watch the ‘faux’ channel. Can’t stomach any of them. *Joanne: This is scary. Yep, not good at.all.
DK: Absolutely no integrity, they’re (repugs) thinking the ‘Rule of Law’ doesn’t apply to them.
NYT: Oh, pleeezzee! He’d be foaming at the mouth to be in the the Oval Office. He wouldn’t look back, either.
Cartoon: Amen! How sad!
YAY!! We got rain!!! Soaked the ground good too! Glad that you got things back in order. Now you can relax, ad enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Puzzle — 4:40 Too sweet for me! It is all yours Puddy Tat! Just looking at it, my teeth are standing straight and saluting!
Media Matters — I thought this was strange given that I had just read within the past week (and of course it is in the tabloid headlines that one sees at the grocery checkout line) that Kelly is thought to be replacing Matt Lauer on NBC’s The Today Show. Then I looked at this article and it is from 2013. I somehow doubt that Kelly would go back to Faux Noise even though Roger Ailes is dead. There were others that were sexually harassing her. Having said that, Hannity might be going because he is in bad graces courtesy of his conspiracy theory BS etc. Any way one cuts it, Faux Noise is still a tool of disinformation and lies, and the Republicans like it like that.
Daily Kos — That sounds suspiciously like Drumpf’s statements about Judge GP Curiel who had the Trump University lawsuit before him. Drumpf: “Curiel does not like me because he is Mexican!” Only a racist Republican would think like that, and most Republicans in politics are racists. Gee, Newty is a racist Republican. What a surprise! NOT!!!
NY Times — Let Pence bullshit all he wants now about this issue, but it is logical, given Drumpf’s troubled presidential history, that Pence would be thinking about this NOW! According to the constitution, there are no term limits on vice presidents as there are for presidents. Conceivably, Pence could serve 2 full terms as VP and them 2 full terms as POTUS. Pence will be thinking longer term . . . that is if he does not get dragged under by all the scandal including Russiagate. Amazing how fast those buses run when someone throws another under one!
Cartoon — I think that picture is a little too optimistic for life after Republicans!
Resist, Persist and Remove!!!
It is 30 C (86 F) with 48% humidity as I write, however the humidity was 66% earlier. The wind is gusting from the west at 7km/hour . . . not nearly enough to clear the smoke. We still can’t see the mountains around us . . . almost like Beijing’s smog. I have been super heated all day even though I am doing very little. And of course, the smoke is still affecting eyes, throats and breathing. Today is a holiday here — BC Day — so more people are off work but few have gone camping, a normal activity for many this long weekend.
I’d rather have a dawg or a horsie!
Media Matters: Megyn Kelly may very well move back to Faux Noise or be out of a job as her show and stint has bombed on NBC with very low ratings. Poor baby, Megyn carried way too baggage, misinformation, lies and her brand of racism to the NBC viewers to stomach. She may or may not have her morning show on NBC.
DKos:
Trump Launches “The Real News” State Propaganda TV
Trump just launched his own “not fake” state propaganda channel,Trump TV.
This first segment posted earlier today on Donald Trump’s Facebook page: Kayleigh McEnany is the face of the new Trump TV. Be forwarded that this is a BARF ALERT!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/6/1687413/-Trump-Launches-The-Real-News-State-Propaganda-TV
Includes Keith Olbermann’s reaction on Twitter: ✔ @KeithOlbermann
The Closure: Last 11/3 we posited “Trump TV” wasn’t his “fallback.” It was a prototype for State Propaganda. It has now launched.
NYTimes: Whether Mike Pence wants to admit or not, he is, after all, one step removed from becoming President should something happen to Drumpf before 2020. The only reason he is asking for money is for his team of lawyers should he be implicated in the PutinGate investigation.
Cartoon: Of things to come in the aftermath of the Drumpf administration.
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Sorry to hear about your card mishap which won’t allow you to make your trip to the bank while the Portland temperatures are still (very) relatively low, TomCat.
MM: Megyn Kelly was doing such a good job having viewers get the wrong end of the stick in 2013 that she managed to get herself a time slot on NBC. But apparently the jury is still out on whether she did a good enough job to have her stay. And with Hannity being Drumpf’s all time favorite and personal mouthpiece, there’s little chance of her returning to Faux News, I would think.
DK: Republicans like Gingrich have little understanding of how investigation processes like Mueller’s work, but even if they do, the count on it that Drumpfians have even less understanding of it but will believe anything that exonerates their darling. Yesterday you gave us DINO Alan Dershowitz, TomCat, who came up with this idea of Drumpf getting an unfair deal because the grand jury is situated in DC, and therefore “too diverse”, i.e. biased, now the argument has been taken up by Gingrich for much the same reasons. And I’m sure many Drumpf supporters in the GOP will follow. Because these all know that Drumpf will only be let of the hook if Mueller’s grand jury were made up entirely of white, biased Drumpf voters, and they will do their damnedest to have Mueller disqualified this way, because all other ways have failed until now.
NYT: Pence so vehemently denying disloyalty to Drumpf was news here in Oz too and met with the same derision Drumpf is usually peppered with. So EVERYONE knows your nauseating display of hurt feelings is BS, Mr. Pence.
Cartoon: Agree with everyone else, the cartoon needs to be tuned down a bit, it’s too optimistic. Five years of Republicans topped with six months of Drumpf has wreaked havoc the kind Nameless is depicting.
Actually Newt understands the investigation process all too well. He was fined $300,000 on a plea bargain and driven from his post as Speaker of the House in disgrace.
Current updates on Megyn Kelly’s new “stint” on NBC as a show host.
Aug 3 2017
Megyn Kelly’s new show is NBC’s worst nightmare: It’s boring
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/08/03/megyn-kellys-new-show-nbcs-worst-nightmare-its-boring/217508
June 21 2017
The network’s vaunted new hire has whiffed her first opportunities to shine. Did NBC make a $17.5m mistake?
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/nbc-megyn-kelly-problem-1202474927/
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Her ratings are in the tank. She can’t last.
Thanks for the Links, Jim – they made my day a little brighter!
Thanks all. Hot Hugs!