Advertising boycotts against conservative talk radio have had severe, negative economic effects on the industry: https://t.co/niCCLuAU2D
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) May 24, 2016
Per Politico:
…[T]here are signs that all is not well in the Limbaugh radio empire. Because even as his influence is sky high and his dominance at the top of talk radio remains unchallenged, as a business proposition, Limbaugh’s show is on shaky ground. In recent years, Limbaugh has been dropped by several of his long-time affiliates, including some very powerful ones: He’s gone from WABC in New York, WRKO in Boston and KFI in Los Angeles, for example, and has in many cases been moved onto smaller stations with much weaker signals that cover smaller areas.
Why? Because four years after Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” on air, spurring a major boycott movement, reams of advertisers still won’t touch him. He suffers from what talk radio consultant Holland Cooke calls a “scarlet letter among national brand advertisers.” And for someone who has said that “confiscatory ad rates” are a key pillar of his business, that spells trouble. (Limbaugh ignored multiple interview requests.)
Limbaugh’s extremely lucrative eight-year contract—estimated to be worth roughly $38 million a year—is up this summer. What will happen to “America’s Anchorman,” as Limbaugh quasi-ironically refers to himself, once the contract is up, is anybody’s guess. Because as he is learning, political power does not necessarily a stellar business make…
redshirt
Is Rush still influential? I feel like I haven’t heard or seen anything about him in years.
Doug R
Ooooh! I smell a pay cut!
Eric U.
I never understood why anyone would advertise on his show anyway. My daughter likes to watch Fox news. I’m a little distressed by who advertises on there. They have fairly regular outrageous statements, it’s like companies sponsoring the republican party
@srv: did Judith Miller say she was fucking right again? If only we could get Bill Kristol to say Trump was bound to beat Hillary, we would be set, the trifecta of wrongness. Of course, Rience is being paid to be wrong, whereas the other two are nominally being paid to be right
Emma
@srv: And we’re supposed to get crazy over anything Obvious Anagram (thanks, Mr. Pierce) says? Really?
And in re: Limbaugh: May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase him so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can’t find him even with a radio telescope.
germy
He spent decades talking shit about minorities. No repercussions. But as soon as he attacked a young white woman it was all over for him.
EDIT:
Wait, I spoke too soon. Didn’t he lose a sportscasting gig after making racist comments about black sportsball players?
gf120581
@srv: This when his party’s nominee is Trump. Project much, Reince?
Oh and go harass some goats, troll.
NotMax
@srv
Wow, that’s more projection than done at a planetarium, right there.
Eric U.
@germy: yes, ESPN fired him for saying racist crap about Donovan McNabb. He only has done this well because his audience are idiots. Who doesn’t know that saying racist crap in sportscasting is simply not done? Who thinks that racist crap would be interesting to a general audience? One reason I watch as much sports as I do is because politics and racist crap is not part of the sports media product. At least for the most part.
germy
I’ve been enjoying “Deep Dark Fears” comics lately:
http://www.gocomics.com/deep-dark-fears/2016/04/25
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Yep. He lost a “Monday Night Football” gig because he said racist shit about Donovan McNabb on the air. I’m not even a sportsball fan and I heard about it.
Miss Bianca
@srv: Yeah, I’m shaking in my go-go boots. Because, you know, JUDY MILLER and REINCE PRIEBUS, not at ALL two of the hackiest hacks in America!
Seriously, man, you’ve GOT to do better than this. Unless you really are just doing this to make us laugh. In which case, good job!
Roger Moore
@Eric U.:
Because he has a large, gullible audience. If they’re willing to buy the crap Rush is saying without a question, they’ll probably buy what his advertisers are selling, too.
Major Major Major Major
job: acquired
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: Hooray!!
germy
@Eric U.:
Why were they surprised? Didn’t they know what they were getting when they hired him?
It’s like hiring a honey badger to babysit an infant. But then smearing molasses all over the infant before you leave the house and saying “There’s a list of emergency numbers on the fridge. We’ll be back after the movie.”
What did they expect?
germy
@Miss Bianca: I am of the school that believes srv is a subtle humorist.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
Yay!
rikyrah
LOL
Romney: I speak out against Trump to sleep at night
5/27/16 11:34 AM EDT
For Mitt Romney, the decision to take on Donald Trump was a matter of personal integrity, the former Republican nominee suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday.
“I know that some people are offended that someone who lost and is the former nominee continues to speak, but that’s how I can sleep at night,” Romney said. “And there are some people, though it’s a small number, who still value my opinion.”
Recalling a conversation with his son Josh, the former Massachusetts governor said he was asked, “When the grandkids ask ‘What did you do to stop Donald Trump?’ what are you going to say?’” The Boston Globe reported the same account in March.
Gravenstone
@Eric U.: I like to describe Limbaugh as someone who has failed at literally everything he’s ever tried (the football gig was basically his dream job, and he pooched it because he’s a racist shitbag), with the notable exception of running his fat mouth. Sadly, in the US of A, being able to run one’s mouth and tell the rubes what they want to hear, reinforcing their hate and prejudices can be quite rewarding. But even that golden run can come to its end, as Rushbo is now learning. Soon he’ll be all alone with only his prodigious sense of self loathing to keep him company. Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole.
germy
@Roger Moore:
“We have this worthless product and we desperately need the Stupid, Believe Any Shit market to unload it on. But where to find such consumers?”
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: I blame Obama.
Congrats!
Miss Bianca
@germy: well, I don’t know about “subtle”, but “humorist” I’ll buy, for sure!
divF
@Major Major Major Major: Congratulations !
Mary G
@Major Major Major Major: Whoo hoo!!! Congratulations M4.
germy
Congratulations to Major Major Major Major on the new job job job job.
cokane
Hate to say it, but there really isn’t much beef in that story. It’s almost entirely speculation. Limbaugh seems likely to continue broadcasting to millions until he dies or retires.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Actually, it’s not. He’s fucking done. Alex Jones pulls more listeners and has far better station coverage than Limpballs, and the contract hasn’t even run out yet. Is he going away? No. Is he being relegated to the backwater stations? Yep.
Who’s the replacement? Obviously Insanity Hannity.
@germy: His life’s dream gig. Seriously. And it didn’t last two weeks, he had to go educate us about the Negro. No one clued him in that sports reporting actually still has standards and requires fact-based reporting. He never would have made it, but he took himself out much sooner than his lack of talent eventually would have.
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: wahoo..
Eric U.
@Mnemosyne: Sometimes I feel like I have a Forest Gump-like curse of being there when bad TV history is being made. I was watching live when the NFL official said that black people didn’t make good quarterbacks because of racist stereotypes. There have been a couple of other instances where someone in sports said something racist that I saw live. And when I saw Limbaugh say his racist crap, which he obviously wrote beforehand, I was mostly shocked that he didn’t know what had happened to those other people.
@Gravenstone: one thing about Limbaugh that has always driven me crazy is that he has so much dead air on his show. I just can’t stand to listen to dead air, drives me nuts. I blame it on the drug addiction and related hearing loss. I had forgotten about the drugs, I wonder if he really becomes known as a failure if he will not just let himself go on that front
germy
@Gravenstone: Remember the day he filled in for Pat Sajak on his short-lived show and got hooted off the stage by the audience. He never appeared in front of an audience again, unless it was a sympathetic crowd of screened true-believers. You never see him debate. You never see him anywhere unless it’s severely controlled.
He boasts his radio show screener is the hardest-working guy. He seems proud that he can’t face the public.
Chris
@rikyrah:
He’s probably livid that someone like Donald Trump is firing up the Republican base in a way that he was utterly incapable of.
(Should Trump win, he just might be even more pissed).
Mnemosyne
@Eric U.:
I never watch football, and yet somehow I managed to see Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction live because my father-in-law was in town and we were watching the game with him.
germy
@Eric U.:
I was watching when Stanley Siegel had an obviously stoned Truman Capote on his morning show. Capote could barely speak and he was dripping with venom against old jet-setter friends who’d forsaken him. His voice was slurred and he couldn’t keep his eyes open. I don’t think a clip exists anywhere, but it was like watching a slow-motion traffic accident.
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: YEAH!!!!
redshirt
@Eric U.: I watched the ESPN Limbaugh McNabb bit live. I knew what was going to happen the minute I saw it – you can’t bring racist shit to sportscasting. Politics? Sure. But not sports.
Another reason why sports is better then politics.
? Martin
@Eric U.:
No, it’s because he has no boss to fire him. He owns his radio empire and the only thing that matters is that the ads keep flowing in to keep him on the air. That’s why the boycott matters – it’s the only accountability there is.
Soylent Green
If this doesn’t prove how afraid they are that Hillz will beat the crap out of Trump, then nothing does.
redshirt
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Yeah, Limbaugh is a huge football fan. He tried to buy a piece of the then St. Louis Rams but was denied because of his background. Losing the ESPN gig must have hurt him bad.
? Martin
@Major Major Major Major: That is the best news I’ve heard all week. Well done, you deserve it.
MazeDancer
There is an interview in the Atlantic of a 22-year-old Trump supporter by young Conor Friedersdorf that is getting a lot of attention on Twitter.
It is a disturbing piece. The Trump supporter lives in San Fran area. He has a good job and a fiance who is Asian. He is a conservative. And is supporting Trump to end “PC Culture”.
He wants to be able to be a rage spewing asshole and have people react positively. Not the situation he has now where he can’t express his true feelings because then people will call him a Nazi.
He thinks President Trump setting an example spouting racism and hatred will let him do this. And if Trump is not elected, PC Culture reigns forever.
Make Hate Great Again – Trump 2026
germy
Occasionally a prankster will get through the radio show screener.
Rush stumbles when caller taunts him about the price of his next contract:
http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/05/25/listen-rush-limbaugh-stumble-when-asked-about-price-his-next-contract/210588
MazeDancer
@Major Major Major Major:
Wonderful news! Congrats! May it be a great job for you!
Mike in NC
@rikyrah: Mitt in all likelihood will have a sudden change of heart and jump on the Drumpf bandwagon before the convention. He’s too much of a publicity hound to not attend.
burnspbesq
@Major Major Major Major:
Excellent news.
Punchy
I’m no math major, but isn’t $38 mill a year for 8 years make it a NINE figure contract?
So why are people gloating that “he’s finished”? He’s got damn near a half-bill to rent rentboys and buy enough oxy to feed a frat house. I’d love to be that “finished”.
ETA: to clarify, I wouldn’t want the money for those things, but some decent strippers and quality weed would be nice.
debbie
Don’t forget Reince Preibus was the man who said the GOP 17-candidate roster represented (in his words) “an embarrassment of riches.”
Ella in New Mexico
Yeah, well, given he has probably made multi-millions of his show and it’s merchandizing towards it’s mindless Ditto heads, I’m not too worried about his fucking “empire”. He won’t suffer, ever, not one day if he goes off the air tomorrow.
And meanwhile, there’s all the little baby Limbaughs he’s spawned that are doing just nicely, thank you, like Hannity and Ingrahm and Savage and Levin and Hewitt and all the others who also are making beucoup bucks on hate, spewed across publicly owned radio frequencies. Even if he does lose his contract, he’ll find his way to XM/SIRIUS or some other internet-based broadcasts. I mean, ALEX JONES, people.
High on the list of the “Top 10 Instant Changes” we do in this country after regaining both houses of Congress and the Presidency is restoring the God-damn Fairness Doctrine.
gogol's wife
@Major Major Major Major:
Yay! Congratulations!
geg6
@srv:
Seriously?? The Obvious Anagram and Judith Fucking Miller? We’re supposed to quake in our boots over them?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
joel hanes
@Emma:
Obvious Anagram
With all due respect to Pierce, the senior epithet is “obvious OCR error”. I think it may have come from Doghouse Riley, peace be upon him.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh, that’s wonderful!!!!!! So happy for you!
Baud
@MazeDancer:
If that sentence doesn’t capture everything that’s wrong with our politics, I don’t know what can.
Gimlet
His loyal radio audience have all gone to nursing homes or died off.
Chat Noir
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats!
/applause
Svensker
@redshirt:
As I recall, the black players said they would not play on his team. Karma, suckah.
@major major major major Woop!
Gravenstone
@debbie:
He was certainly half right.
MattF
I think part of the problem is that Limbaugh’s original fans have died off or gone gaga– the man’s been around for quite a while. Once upon a time, his schtick was new and different, now it’s old.
Betty Cracker
I’m glad his business model is tanking, but I’d consider it justice if he were huddled under an overpass getting waffle marks on his ass from a milk crate instead of lolling about tended by servants in a beachfront mansion. Oh well, we’ve got to find our schadenfreude where we can, I suppose.
Gravenstone
O/T: Just because I find this somewhat delightful. The Cubs’ back up catcher is David Ross. He is retiring at the end of this season and has 501 career hits. Today, hit number 501 was also career homerun number 100. I just love that 20% of his hits have been homers.
Major Major Major Major
@MazeDancer: My favorite part is when he apparently summarizes himself with
Who the fuck asked about the race of his wife? Is this supposed to be an accomplishment because she’s Asian?
germy
“Speaking of Satan, I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other day…”
Bill Hicks on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxzxmQykQ4s
Ella in New Mexico
@MazeDancer:
That basically sums up almost every single Trump supporter I personally know. Really. They’re all victims, and angry and think they’re the only ones in the world who’ve ever had to give anything up in order to live in a free society.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
Congratulations!
Gravenstone
@Major Major Major Major: More of a way of saying “see, I’m not racist, I’m fucking a hot Asian for godssakes!”
A Ghost To Most
@Major Major Major Major:
Congrats! Go now, and celebrate in whatever way that seems appropriate.
? Martin
@MazeDancer:
I think that’s overstating it, but not by much. Mostly he sounds like a scared little glibertarian who is unable to express his fears because his fears are pretty much all racial, etc. But to his defense, that he’s in San Francisco is important. SF is often its own worst enemy on issues like this because there is often so little forgiveness for people making mistakes. I’m of the ‘everyone is a little bit racists’ view, and so I think it’s important to forgive people their wording and I think it’s also important to allow people to express their fears. A solid strategy for getting people pissed off at you is to deny their emotions – tell them to not be upset, etc. They’re upset, or they’re afraid, and the reasons for that are often out of their control (or seem to be). You have to let people express that or else they can’t ever work on it, and SF as a broad activist community is surprisingly unforgiving of that sort of thing.
Unfortunately his remedy would be to exactly backfire. President Trump might open things up in Alabama, but it sure as shit won’t in SF – just the opposite. Let’s chalk that up to the experience of a 22 year old with a girlfriend that makes $150K – not exactly a mainstream viewpoint.
SenyorDave
@Major Major Major Major: Who the fuck asked about the race of his wife? Is this supposed to be an accomplishment because she’s Asian?
It’s just another thing on his checklist. If I could say one thing to his Asian fiancé, I’d tell her it’s not late, run for the hills!
Major Major Major Major
@Gravenstone: I think it’s both. I live in SF. A white (libertarian, because of course) 22-year-old dude does consider an Asian Tiger Wife(tm) a status symbol.
This is my second-favorite part:
Yes, the biggest issue facing America today is how we talk to white people. I know that’s not a particularly productive thing to say myself but come on.
Troublesome Carp fka Geeno
@Major Major Major Major: W00T!
Tom Levenson
@Major Major Major Major: Woot!
Congrats!
Next round’s on you.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I still hear Rush on the radio in a few factories and small shops that I visit. The grimier they are, the more likely that the standard Classic Rock is replaced by the angry old white man.
And typically it’s young white guys listening, which is depressing.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
I hope emojis win. ???
Major Major Major Major
Thanks everybody!
Now I can be one of those evil think tank guys which according to BiP means that I don’t care about other people!
redshirt
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I really don’t like Rush or Rush.
singfoom
@Major Major Major Major: Congratulations on the job. Hope it goes well.
Also too, BiP thinks you’re evil and ignorant and don’t care about people regardless of your job. You’re only good and clued in if you believe his craziness.
Mike J
@? Martin:
He owns the show but not the stations that carry it. There’s more to the boycott than people know.
Most radio ads (TV too, for that matter) are bought Run of Day. That means the traffic department schedules them where ever there is a free spot. Buy a hundred ads for the week and sure, some of them are going to wind up in the 3AM hour, but some of them are going to land in morning drive. You get a cheap price because you don’t control the time, and the good spots tend to balance out the bad.
Radio stations love it because they can put ads in dayparts that don’t sell well on their own. They can also show potential advertisers a rock bottom rate to bring in business.
At stations that carry Limbaugh, many advertisers who buy rod spots have been telling traffic, “no Limbaugh.” It’s one more headache to deal with when you have 3500 minutes of stop sets to schedule for the week, and a show that used to draw premium rates is being actively avoided. Even worse, what happens if avoiding Limbaugh makes the advertiser reconsider all controversial programming? That’s most of the day at a talk radio station. Why would you want to carry a show that you can’t sell and potentially drives advertisers away from shows they were happy to buy before?
Elizabelle
OMG. My Barcelona apartment is in Poble Sec. I am hearing Coldplay play live, very close, maybe a few blocks from my apartment. They’re in town, and they sound great.
Unbelievable. (Although Trump has ruined that word.)
They just played “Clocks.” I thought, no way is that a cover band.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Most excellent! This makes me very happy.
:: these are not happy tears I am wiping away, it’s um, allergies! ::
burnspbesq
@redshirt:
One is evil, the other is just overrated.
RSR
>>his influence is sky high
Really? I haven’t heard anyone mention him – love or hate – in months. Many months.
Until this season, my hometown baseball team used to have an AM station as their flagship (an old clear channel – the broadcast phenomenon, not the company) and an FM simulcast. The lead in bumpers returning to an inning were often promos for Limbaugh for the AM station. This season, the club went FM only for radio broadcast.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Sounds like you’re having the time of your life.
WarMunchkin
I am crying with laughter right now.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Time to take a walk and see how close you can get! :-)
Major Major Major Major
@burnspbesq: But Neil Peart is the greatest drummer of all time!
Baud
@WarMunchkin:
I accept, Trump.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yesh. Is wonderful.
@WaterGirl: Yes. Should just follow the sound. I’d thought there is probably a back way through the neighborhoods. We are so close to the Plaza de Espagna. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaça_d%27Espanya,_Barcelona
Baud
@Elizabelle: When’s the Barcelona meetup?
burnspbesq
@Major Major Major Major:
And Bernie’s going to be the next Senate Majority Leader.
yellowdog
@Major Major Major Major:Congrats!!
Emma
@WarMunchkin: Oh ye Christ. I. Can’t. Even.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
After Keith Moon and Bonzo and Gene Krupa and Paul Simonon, maybe.
SFAW
@WarMunchkin:
I thought you were kidding. Holy shit.
Maybe if someone went to Trump and offered him the job as Juvenile Asshole-in-Chief, he’d accept. He’s certainly the best-qualified candidate for the position.
The Thin Black Duke
@SFAW: Uh, one of these names is not like the others.
Elizabelle
@Baud: You just gots to tell us when you get here. It will happen.
Covering David Bowie’s Heroes now.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
Mitt has scruples?
Who would have guessed?
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
Congrats.
Hope it turns out to be exactly what you wanted.
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: @burnspbesq: Surely I’m not the only person here who remembers that scene from Freaks And Geeks.
Then again, knowing my weird penchant for remembering TV shows, maybe I am.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Congrats!
Roger Moore
@redshirt:
You can bring racist shit to sports, but it has to be more subtle than that. For example, compare what adjectives are used to describe players. There are some (mostly positive) words that are almost exclusively used for white players and some (mostly negative) ones reserved for black players. A white player who’s angry all the time and has trouble getting along with teammates is intense; a black player with the same characteristics is moody.
The biggest advantage that sports has is that people are ultimately forced to pay attention to evidence. There’s a scoreboard that tells you who won and who lost, and endless stats that tell you how it happened. I guess you could say that politics has the equivalent of a scoreboard, but it’s obviously possible to do well in elections while being completely disconnected from the process of governing. Not so much in sports.
Comrade Mary
@WarMunchkin: The only reaction possible.
Roger Moore
@joel hanes:
I’m a fan of just eliminating the vowels from his name: RNC PR BS.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s to prove that he can’t possibly be racist. Pointing out that she makes more money than him proves he isn’t sexist. That’s how they think.
Baud
@Elizabelle: You’re going to vote before you move there permanently, right?
Mnemosyne
@Punchy:
FWIW, Limbaugh strikes me as being one of those guys who craves respect and fame, not money. Living like a recluse on stacks of money is going to be very unsatisfying for him. Think “Sunset Boulevard.”
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
The only time I ever listened to Rush was at a pet shop where I bought live crickets for my son’s chameleon. It was … odd being called a feminazi while I waited for the clerk to collect a bag of the doomed critters.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: You’ve heard of the Rage Furby and his “Hot Asian Wife”?
gene108
@redshirt:
I will never forget the look of WTF-disbelief-Anger-and-be-glad-there-are-witnesses-fat boy-or-we’d-be-“playin'”-football-now from the other hosts right after he said his bit.
You knew he was done from the expression of the other hosts.
SFAW
@The Thin Black Duke:
(Shhhhhh. I know.)
And considering Simonon’s unique musical talent, it seems highly unlikely that he is a better drummer. I was just bustin’ on Peart.
Major Major Major Major
@BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks for the reminder.
Elizabelle
@Baud: But of course. Shall be in the US of A for election season (sigh). Although teaching English in Spain has just moved to the top of the Plan B list.
Got to return to enjoy the last of President Obama’s excellent stewardship (and _ucketlist accomplishing).
Elizabelle
@Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian: We are all those crickets.
Well. Maybe not. But maybe.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Glad to hear. The country wouldn’t be the same without you.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
In my house, Clocks is known as Coldplay’s cover of the Pokemon Cave Theme.
germy
@gene108: Here’s the clip with a transcript:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGiTv_xRd5A
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I read “same” as “sane” on first, quick read; that would be true too.
D58826
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/sanderss-scorched-earth-strategy-is-working.html
Felanius Kootea
@srv: When your enemy is making a mistake, you keep quiet and let it happen. The fact that Reince Preibus is talking about this tells you he means the opposite.
rikyrah
I wasn’t going to watch this, but Luvvie has convinced me.
……………..
On ROOTS Reimagined and Retelling This Classic Story
Awesomely Luvvie — May 26, 2016 1 24
When I first heard that they wanted to remake ROOTS, I legit was like “Bhet why?” The mini-series from 1977, based on Alex Haley‘s book of the same name is one of those classics that everyone knows about even if they haven’t seen. Why touch it? Why do we need to see a new version of the harrowing tale of Kunta Kinte, a Mandinka warrior, stolen and sold into slavery? It was the role that catapulted LeVar Burton into stardom, and it is so strongly HIS that why would they even try to re-do it?
………………………………
Those were my questions when the ROOTS team reached out to me. I was hella skeptical. And then they told me why they were re-imagining (not remaking) ROOTS. It turns out that most millennials (people under 35) have never seen the original ROOTS. We’ve seen clips of the “What’s your name? KUNTA.” scene, but many of us have never sat down to watch it. Me included.
So they sent me a screener of the first episode of ROOTS Reimagined. Y’all. Y’ALL. I watched it and when it ended, I felt trapped in a glass case of emotions. I felt anger that was visceral. I felt proud, from the resilience of my people. And I felt more than ever that this was necessary. This is a time when this conversation can be really productive.
I agreed to partner with the History Channel and A+E on this to spread the word because what they’ve done here is fantastic. They put my skepticism to bed after seeing that episode, and the care they took to tell a story that was layered, as complete as it could be, but also relevant to the pace we absorb things in now.
Episode one spends a lot of time in Africa, where we learn who Kunta Kinte was, who he came from and how he came to be who he was before he was stolen from his home to become a slave in the United States.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah!
debbie
@Elizabelle:
What a nice way to be living your life for a while!
debbie
I think the Clinton campaign should set up video booths at their rallies. People could step inside and answer the question, “What adjective is Donald Trump?” I’d bet splicing a bunch of their responses together would make great ads. Elizabeth Warren shouldn’t have to carry all of the water.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I watched the original broadcast as a kid, because *everyone* did, regardless of race.
Elizabelle
@debbie: So true. This is not like everyday, for sure. (1) Barcelona. (2) A little magic to open the window for some fresh air, and there is Coldplay.
@MomSense: Could not speak to Pokemon, but will take your word.
M. Bouffant
KFI (part of iHeart media, formerly Clear Channel) took Rush & some of the other idjits they broadcast & put them all on another station they own which is now called “The Patriot” (call sign KEIB, as in Limbaugh’s “Excellence in Broadcasting”) which, sad irony, used to be the local Air America station.
Limbaugh’s replacement is a guy & gal morning team. Most of the people on KFI now are local idiots, but there’s still a right-wing tinge to them. Their afternoon drive has a pair of local ninnies who drool the right-wing line consistently.
gene108
@Roger Moore:
A plugged in sports fan not only knows the “evidence” as you put, but the inside and out of the stats that lead to the evidence, how those stats compare to historical trends, and which major sportsball players had contributions – good and bad – to the game.
Imagine people knowing that much about economics that when someone says “tax cuts pay for themselves” thousands of angry voices answer back with revenue data regarding Bush, Jr’s tax cuts or how Reagan reversed course in tax cuts after his blew a hole in the deficit, in 1981-1982.
I honestly wish people were as plugged into politics, economics, etc as they are into sports.
O. Felix Culpa
@Major Major Major Major: I’m late to the party (trying to, you know, get some actual work done on a Friday afternoon), but CONGRATULATIONS!!!
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes!!!!
Elizabelle
@Major Major Major Major: awriiight! WTG.
Was thinking it might be something about the fish story. But job is good.
Origuy
@Elizabelle:
I had to look up where Poble Sec is. It’s close to the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic. You can probably hear a band there from your apartment. I saw Van Halen and Bon Jovi there in 1995. I want to go back to Spain!
gene108
@germy:
Guess I misremembered it…
trollhattan
@Felanius Kootea:
a.k.a. Please proceed, governor.
rikyrah
@MazeDancer:
Isn’t this what folks like me have been saying?
This isn’t about freedom of speech.
This is about freedom from the CONSEQUENCES of expressing that ‘ freedom of speech’.
They want to be able to party like it’s 1948, where a WHITE MALE, cause that’s who we’re talking about…
could go around and call me Nigger, without there being any consequences.
Well, today, if he does it, he doesn’t know or not, if he’s rolled up ‘ the wrong one’,. and his teeth will wind up looking like Chicklets on the pavement. And, that’s the lesser of what could happen to him.
Nobody’s playing with these muthaphuckas.
He’s all big and bad..then BE all big and bad…
but, accept the consequences for being all big and bad…
Man……PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
YEAH!!!
CONGRATS!!!
nutella
@Mike in NC:
Or possibly he’ll get strapped to the roof of the bandwagon as it drives off.
chopper
@Major Major Major Major:
congrats congrats congrats congrats!
Schlemazel Khan
@Major Major Major Major:
Hope it is everything you ever wanted & you get some pleasure as well as money from it
Gelfling545
@debbie: and he was half right.
chopper
@SFAW:
and dave lombardo. chris pennie also too.
Gelfling545
@Ella in New Mexico: I haven’t been able to figure out how anyone could be led to believe that their lot in life would be improved if only they could call others offensive names, etc. I think I might have it figured out now. It’s mommy issues! Mommy said to be polite, share, not call names, etc. and they’re going to show that…er…witch that she’s not the boss of them.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
Good for you! Will you be able to spend time on your writing?
Major Major Major Major
@debbie: That’s what trains are for! :)
Josie
@Major Major Major Major:
Yay you! Also, I would wear BiP’s disapproval as a badge of honor.
pseudonymous in nc
@MazeDancer:
#everydaytrumpism
redshirt
@efgoldman: That’s what I thought.
redshirt
@Elizabelle: So jealous. I spent 3 days in Barcelona at the end of a month in Europe because it was the warmest place I could get to on the Eurail and I had run out of money. So I slept in the Pablo Picasso park for two nights and it’s the only time I’ve been homeless. I also stole food from two restaurants because I hadn’t eaten in like 24 hours. Sorry, Barcelona.
I’d love to go back – with money.
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
Great!! That is wonderful.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Major Major Major Major: Congratulations!
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: fun!!
laura
@Major Major Major Major: you celebrate subtly.
Congatulations!
J R in WV
@Baud:
That guy’s girl friend would wind up in a camp if Trump gets elected, and he would probably choose NOT to join her there. He’s 22 and doesn’t remember the 2008 election, much less know anything about political history of the USA.
In another country he wouldn’t be allowed to vote without taking and passing a civics class, as pig ignorant as he is. He tells us that people have called him racist, fascist, bigoted.
Maybe he should be wondering why people call him that?
Maybe because he is one? Thinking so!
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
“Think Tank” !!
But that means you won’t have to work, doesn’t it? Just thinking? Wow, that’s great!
I kid, ya know.
Anne Laurie
@Major Major Major Major: Belated, but most sincere, CONGRATULATIONS!
Aardvark Cheeselog
@Major Major Major Major:
It is supposed to prove that he’s not racist. You are intended to be impressed.
I couldn’t read much past that point. Or rather, that was the point at which I decided that the remaining minutes of my life are too few to be spent exploring the shallow depths of the interviewee’s thoughts and feelings.
Cid Burton
@germy: Speaking of that, I’m writing a novel, and I’m doing a passage on that interview. Tell me what you remember (specifically, if you don’t mind)? I wasn’t born, thanks.
I found a clip of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwL-j97m4zk 4:38 – 6:17, but that’s all I could find of the interview itself. So what else happened?