Newt: "Hollywood is so enraged at Trump, they can't be funny."
Kimmel: "I wonder why we're so angry. Maybe it has something to do with…you." pic.twitter.com/goSxzVgB31— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 9, 2017
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When you’ve got Jimmy ‘Bright Side’ Kimmel calling you out…
Obama: "It takes great courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm" https://t.co/mihG0SasZE via @IsaacDovere pic.twitter.com/Mqy0LV3hDc
— POLITICO (@politico) May 8, 2017
It doesn’t. It is the easiest thing to do, and invites instant praise. Making a counterintuitive case? That’s hard. https://t.co/lKCdUSRy2Q
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 8, 2017
That's why the Gospels emphasize how much time Jesus spent on the truly hard and unappreciated work of ministering to the hale and wealthy. https://t.co/D75WnAJje3
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) May 8, 2017
Shalimar
President Obama is wrong. It doesn’t take great courage. It takes a tiny bit of empathy.
Ian
It doesn’t. It is the easiest thing to do, and invites instant praise. Making a counterintuitive case? That’s hard.
clay
I don’t know who Charles C. W. Cooke is, but he seems like a real jackass.
I think, perhaps, that he doesn’t know what “champion” means as a verb. Here’s a hint, jackass: it doesn’t mean “just talk about how we should help people”. It means to get down in the trenches and actually work to improve their lives, and no, it’s NOT “the easiest thing to do.” Jackass.
Elizabelle
Fuck the Fucking New York Times has some actual truth up on its website right now.
Fox News is a cancer on all of us. And good for the French; I hope they never get an equivalent to Fox News. Maybe they’re smarter. Fox News is poison. We would NEVER have Donald Trump without Fox News radicalizing the rightwing base for decades. (Rush Limbaugh et al, too, but Fox is mainstreamed and particularly insidious.)
Shalimar
@clay: British writer for National Review. He has no redeeming qualities I have been able to discern.
Boussinesque
@clay: was about to say the same thing–who is this Charles C. W. Cooke asshole, and why should anyone give a fuck what he thinks?
And yeah, when any attempt to actually improve the lives of the poor, sick, and unfortunate is violently opposed by the wealthy, powerful, and spiteful people that control most of the economy and all the houses of the federal government, you better believe it takes courage. Not that Charles Cock-Wombler Cooke would know anything about courage in the first place. It takes a real special kind of special to pass off toadying to the rich and powerful as making a courageous moral stand.
God I hate these people, and I hate that they’re making me into the type of person who can say that and actually really mean it.
Sab
I am usually very pro visa. Who wouldn’t want to welcome people who desperately want to come here and are greatfuàl once they get here, even though we don’t have support anywhere close to what Canada offers. My city has thousands of immigrants, mostly from Bhutan and Nepal who have really revitalized very troubled parts of town. Crime is down. Teachers in troubled schools are amazed at the quality of their students. But EB5 visas aren’t like that. EB5 let’s slime like Rupert Murdoch in simply because he has gobs of money, which will be used to undermine our government, values and way of life, not to mention our economy.
jmw
So apparently the who of the EMAILZ letter was about automatic backups of Abedin’s BlackBerry.
https://www.propublica.org/article/comeys-testimony-on-huma-abedin-forwarding-emails-was-inaccurate
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Elizabelle:
I was going to remark on this yesterday – the Anglosphere is afflicted with Murdoch for decades while Europe is not.
Murdoch softened us up for Russian propaganda.
amk
@Elizabelle: Yup, rupie has completely radicalized 3 major english speaking countries including his own.
Peale
@Sab: yep. With all the trouble in the world today, why do we need more rich people here to try to compete with our own citizens for scarce resources? That just prevents other governments from dealing with their own inequality problems by allowing the wealthy an escape hatch. We can only take so many. Let the Chinese deal with their own princelings. We can handle the striving paupers. We have enough problems accommodating the needs of our own elite.
greennotGreen
The rot in our government is so apparent and so blindly being overlooked by those in charge that it’s hard for me to focus on my personal drama that I promised I would report on. Except that after an uncomfortable night I’m still here, and I’m still seeing little flashes of pretty lights when I close my eyes…and I can’t type worth a damn.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Elizabelle: The NYT lies again, remember it was them and not Fox who could only talk about e-mails?
Elizabelle
@greennotGreen: Hello, you darling. Alain has just put up a traveling thread, which might be more amenable. I am not happy that we are subjecting you to discussing the crapfest (rot in government). You deserve better!
Elizabelle
@greennotGreen: And I hope and wish that you find more reserves of strength, and continue to amaze and amuse your nurse.
Good to see Pine seems to be spoken for. If Rocket is still around in foster care when I get back from traveling (probably end of July), I am snagging that dog. He’s adorbs.
bystander
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: And – dare I say it again – let’s not forget the Times’ story that Hillary was to face criminal charges, based on an anonymous source. The paper headlined it and Andrea Mitchell kickstarted at least eight of her vibrators that day in celebration. It was not true, yet the Times continued to protect the source even after being made fools by printing it.
Who was the source, so impeccable yet so wrong?
Elizabelle
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: We need to fight Murdoch and his ilk. I don’t think the founders meant the First Amendment to protect propaganda that undermines democracy. Murdoch misinforms, radicalizes, and makes it hard for democracy, which relies on educated citizens.
Do you know any groups or attorneys who are on that wavelength? I want to join up in that fight. It has to happen. I’m even wondering if we might find some First Amendment lawyers who don’t want to prop up this cancer; someone like that could be invaluable.
Aleta
@Sab: Great comment.
Sab
@greennotGreen: I am so glad to hear from you. You are going on a path all of us will face. Thank you so much for sharing.
Also thank you for sharing about Hospice. My mother died at 84 seven years ago.
We had no idea what to do for her. She had a very debilative end of life situation. Her doctor recommended the hospital, which would have helped nothing. The hospice guys came in and were amazing.
We discovered hospice ( not much thanks to our primary care physician) about four days before we lost her. Two or three weeks, or a month, would have been a miracle.
I am so happy you get this care. I have lurked for years, but I have always valued your comments.
Elizabelle
@Sab: Hospice is great. The nurses, doctors, and people who make it happen, are angels.
We got hospice in way too late for my dad, because he was a bit of a control monster. Hospice was around more with my mom; her oncologist had just told her, flatly, that it was time for hospice.
One mistake I made, both times: I waited too long to order the hospital bed. I thought it would make my parent sad that we were at that stage. As it was, the hospital bed was so helpful for bathing and care, and it was more comfortable for my dad (who used it all of two days).
Hospice rocks.
bystander
Barney Miller (I wish it was Barney Frank) is on with a knee slapping tale of pyromania starring the late, great Steve Franken. A real breakout after his signature role as Chatsworth Osborne Jr. Actually, he’s playing it like he’s Chatsworth as a pyromaniac.
ETANew episode starting with a young Linda Lavin. Nice to know her scenery chewing was as bad then as it is now.
Aleta
@jmw: The horror never ends, does it.
Aleta
@greennotGreen: Good morning. Another wet and chilly one here, but the daffodils are out now and the plum trees have started to flower.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Elizabelle:
No real legal fight available at US law. Commercial puffery and political bullshit have all been granted affirmative sanction for over a century, and elimination of the Fairness Doctrine killed off such pathetic control as existed.
About the only solutions to Murdoch are financial subornation or acquisition and violence. Makes me long for a Charlotte Corday.
satby
@greennotGreen: Good morning my dear! Our happiness when you post is only tempered by concern that you be as comfortable as possible, typos be damned! Virtual gentle hugs for you.
And we will keep fighting the rot in the system, we’re not going to let the bastards get us down.
satby
@Elizabelle: I’m so glad to hear Pine has found a home, where was that news?
Elizabelle
@satby: I think a lot of folks were bidding for Pine on the BJ thread, and so that was pretty much an assumption by me.
However in the morning thread — pics of green’s beautiful home amidst the green — her sister reports the dogs have a forever home and a foster home in the community.
debbie
Seems appropriate to post this FB post here:
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Keep an eye on Sinclair Broadcasting. They’re buying up markets and hoping to be competitive with Fox.
Aleta
From Buzzfeed:
At least three federal government agencies have agreed to seemingly conceal official communications with a congressional committee from public information requests, following letters sent last month by the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services.
Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas, sent letters in April to the heads of several federal agencies his committee oversees, declaring that communications and documents produced between the two offices will remain in the committee’s control and will not be considered “agency records” — therefore exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.
“The Committee expects that the [government agency] will decline to produce any such congressional records in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act or any other provision of law or agreement,” the letter reads in part.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Credit Union Administration all responded to Hensarling’s letter agreeing to decline requests to release documents if requested under FOIA.
Last week, BuzzFeed News first reported Hensarling’s letter was sent to the Treasury Department. BuzzFeed News on Monday reviewed letters sent to an additional 11 agencies from the Committee on Financial Services.
The House Committee on Ways and Means sent a similar note to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to an email reviewed by Buzzfeed.
A spokesperson for CFPB confirmed the agency is “declining to produce records of The House Committee on Financial Services.” The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the National Credit Union Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Freedom of Information Act ensures that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information. While Congress itself is exempt from FOIA, its correspondence with agencies is subject to disclosure and is commonly requested by reporters and others engaged in oversight work.
Jeff Emerson, a spokesperson for the House Committee on Financial Services, told BuzzFeed News the letters came on the advice of the House Office of General Counsel.
“Congressional communications with executive branch agencies are exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests whenever Congress expresses the intention that such communications are to retain their status as congressional records,” Thomas Hungar, House General Counsel said in a statement.
“Over the course of the past four decades, congressional Committees and Members have frequently expressed that intention and the federal courts have routinely and consistently enforced these well-established legal principles. The House Office of General Counsel provided legal advice to the Committee on Financial Services regarding these long-established legal principles and practices, and the letters sent by the Committee to agencies under its jurisdiction are consistent with that advice and use language provided by the Office,” Hungar added.
Press freedom lawyers said they have never seen such a request before and have called it “deeply troubling.”
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Too many outlets for any one to have the kind of impact Murdoch has.
Aleta
@debbie: @Aleta: Attempts by Murdoch, T, and US Republicans to destroy freedom of the press even if they can’t undo the First Amendment on paper.
Quinerly
Speaking of monsters, this troubled soul is dead. Someone might have already updated in another thread. As I recall a big discussion a couple of weeks back on an early morning thread. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marinna-rollins-veteran-who-killed-her-service-dog-found-dead/
Kay
“Misstated”! It’s whole sentences that are completely wrong. He went into great detail- all wrong.
I hope the fate of the republic isn’t hanging on this guy. His giant mistakes are piling up. He makes a huge “mistake” once every 90 days.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: Whoa. I’d just as soon never have heard of that whole story.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Yeah. I thought of you when I saw that propublica story (MomSense linked to it earlier).
RE Comey; he’s the “devil we know.” Dog only knows who Trump would replace him with.
I’d like to see them clear out that New York office and fire those agents. No place for behavior like that, and they cannot be trusted. Unless it’s better to reassign them somewhere way far away, where they cannot do more damage, rather than having them running around as free agents so they can end up on Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting as “experts.”
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
Did you realize Steve was Al’s cousin? I didn’t until recently.
Lurking Canadian
@Elizabelle: Actually, the oversight of the Founding Fathers wasn’t forgetting about the existence of propaganda. Many of them were propagandists themselves.
What they didn’t foresee, but we have done to ourselves, is allowing a small number of people to become richer than countries.
Propaganda isn’t a problem when any nut with a few bucks and an axe to grind can buy a printing press and start cranking out broadsheets. The problem has arisen because a tiny handful of ideologically motivated people are rich enough to own *all* the printing presses. That’s not something early America would have predicted.
Lurking Canadian
@Kay: That sure is a lot of words to say: “The director of the FBI perjured himself in Congressional testimony today.”
Elizabelle
@Lurking Canadian: Yeah. And I think that’s a great reason right there for raising the tax rate to Eisenhower era rates on the very wealthy. All that $$$ is distorting and hurting our political process and thus outcomes for the American middle and working classes. I think a lot of people would understand that.
If the gazillionaires threaten to go somewhere else, let them. They may be people we cannot afford to have any more.
We need to return to a concern for the common good. It’s been so distorted.
You’re right about buying up all the printing presses. It’s cable TV deregulation, and the sloppy instantaneousness of televised events and news.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
It undercuts his explanation for why he interfered. So we waited months for an explanation and it’s all wrong.
We still don’t have an explanation. Incredibly he has now AGAIN made his original press conference “mistake” worse.
He keeps making it worse! It was too big a mistake to come back from. He should have just resigned immediately after Trump was elected. The whole fucking thing is poisoned. Some “mistakes” are too big to fix. Just go, buddy. You’ve done enough damage.
efgoldman
@Elizabelle:
I thought only individuals could be tasked with looking in a mirror. The FYNYT needs to (but won’t) do some self-reflection.
France also didn’t have its “All the News That Fits, we Print” paper of record slagging Macron about imaginary scandals for 215 years.
tobie
@Kay: Thanks for posting this. I just saw the article on ProPublica and my blood is boiling. Corey’s hate for the Clintons runs so deep that even after he destroyed her chances in the election, he’s still pissing all over her and Huma Abedin’s reputation. That Ted Cruz cited this misinformation in his questioning of Sally Yates yesterday shows how the Republican echo chamber works. Corey’s knee deep in it. I don’t know how we hold him accountable.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: Yeah. I am one of the few here who keep my FTFNYTimes sub, mainly to see what they’re up to, even while I read less and less of their content. Been thinking about starting a personal blogging feature, “Dear New York Times.”
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I wonder if some creative attorney could find a way around this, in the public interest. Can of worms, I agree.
At this point, I would be fine with a Charlotte Corday type correction. I think the “elites” are unaware of how the pressure is building. The elections should tell them something …
germy
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
We had a lot of back and forth here on the original post when she was arrested. I’m from NC originally and had a FB friend from Fayetteville that was posting on FB about community reaction. The court had raised her bail substantially and the boyfriend had been turned over to the military since he was active duty. Civilians in the community were afraid he would be quietly redeployed.
J
I, pretty much everyone I know, and people reading and commenting on this blog would find it hard to make the case our pampered, cosseted, fawned-upon ruling class are being unjustly treated, but I suspect Mr. Cooke and his chums find it easy. Still I like a challenge, and I’ve come up with this:
Never forget who the real victim is; it’s the humble plutocrat, the rentier, the chairman of the board, the president of the company, the heir to the fortune. Save all your pity for him as he is trod underfoot by rapacious widows and orphans, by low wage workers, by the cleaners and cooks, by the unemployed, by nurses and public school teachers and other cruel and haughty members of the elite.
Gretchen
@Elizabelle: The New York Times needs to admit that it wasn’t just Fox News. They ran with all emails all the time. The emails weren’t that significant, but their coverage made it seem as if they were. They are as culpable as James Comey and Fox News, but they don’t want to admit it.
Gretchen
@Sab: what part of the country are you in?