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].
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.
This week during a press briefing on the Trump administration’s latest immigration bill, CNN’s Jim Acosta had an interesting exchange with White House Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller. It was an eye opening look into the mindset of this administration and those pulling the strings. The public reaction to it was another example of how divided we are as a country and exactly how misguided many have become.
