Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

People are complicated. Love is not.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Good luck with your asparagus.

Reality always wins in the end.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

The revolution will be supervised.

Let there be snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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Television

Killing the Brand

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Has there ever been a brand that was more effectively destroyed than the Sunday Morning shows? In the 90’s and early 2000’s, I would wake up every morning and watch them. Even in college, it did not matter how hungover I was, I would not miss Meet the Press. But now, I honestly do not even know who is hosting what other than that execrable Chuck Todd (who was so wonderful running numbers in 2007-2008 and then just became a complete stooge when it came to actual politics). They’re just a non-entity. They shape no agenda, they make no news, it’s just a bunch of liars on able to spew nonsense without even being corrected or remotely challenged. What’s the point? Also, I dearly miss Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood.

On a related note, say what you will about Chris Matthews, but to his credit he has fucked off into non-existence. No comeback attempts or any bullshit like Marky Mark or the other undesirables. He’s just a non-entity and off living his best life. Good for him. And good riddance.

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Art as Propaganda, Propaganda as Art

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I’m on episode 44 of Dirillis: Ertugrul (Resurrection: Ertugrul) and I am completely sucked in and have been since the first couple episodes. So much so that even when I learned there were 76 episodes in the first season, I kept watching. It’s based on the story of Ertegrul Bey, a turk who fathered Osman (which I assume will happen in Season 5 the way this show is paced).

The thing is, it is just shameless propaganda and basically a fictional rewrite of Ottoman History. I’m sure Erdogan loves it. It’s one part Game of Thrones, one part Triumph of the Will, and one part Dallas. And I can not get enough of it.

The fights are laughable, with every sword fight more and more absurd, and the important characters never getting hurt. Historical gender roles are strictly enforced, the Beys and Muslim scholars fawned over, and so on. As far as propaganda goes, it is a masterpiece.

The only show i have seen recently this over the top was a Russian state movie from 2018 called T-34. Do you have any other shows you have watched like this? Shows you know are just propaganda, but you watch them anyway?

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Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

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With He Who Shall Not Be Named’s malign influence fading, I’m seeing more wholesome content on my Twitter timeline:

Nature is healing!

Speaking of Shatner, at the University of Florida in the late 1980s, there used to be a T.J. Hooker Viewing Society.

Thursday Afternoon Open Thread 2

The hair!

Also speaking of Shatner, I read a story once that alleged that the young actor who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek TNG approached Shatner (who was doing a flashback cameo or something) for an autograph and was rudely rebuffed. The kid told a castmate — maybe even Jean Luc himself — who said something like, “Oh, did no one tell you Bill is an asshole? Bill’s an asshole! Sorry about that,” and then went to the producer or whomever to make Shatner give the kid an autograph. No idea if it’s true, but I want it to be so!

Open thread.

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Crown Jewel (Open Thread)

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This guy is good:

I’ve already binge-watched Season 4, which was pretty good, IMO. The mister and I also just finished up The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix — highly recommended. (It’s about chess, not royalty.)

Did a grocery run earlier to lay in supplies for a two-person Thanksgiving. I’m making Ina’s turkey roulade, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls and pumpkin pie. Plus extra stuffing and fresh cranberry sauce. It will be way too much.

It’s dark and cloudy today. The forecast calls for rain, but it’s just clouds and mist so far. The weather will likely deter us from taking a boat ride, but we did yesterday and saw this pretty anhinga in a tree:

Crown Jewel (Open Thread)

That’s all I’ve got. Open thread!

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I Remember When She Was Just a Wee Lass

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Look who is going to be on TDS tonight:

They grow up so fast.

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Dubious Conversion Open Thread: Tucker Carlson, Jedi Master of the CYA Corps

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He plays a bigoted thug to perfection on TV, but either Mr. Carlson isn’t quite as dumb as he acts, or he’s at least smart enough to hire competent advisors. Lo, a Damascus moment for one of the richest ‘conservatives’ on Fox News!

Though it’s hard to believe, Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his very first visit to Mar-a-Lago only a week and a half ago. The resort was hosting a birthday party for former Fox host Kimberly Guilfoyle, also attended by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, and Donald Trump Jr.,—but Carlson wasn’t there for the party. He didn’t even know about it, he says. Instead he’d come with an urgent message for the president. He was there to pull Donald Trump aside and speak frankly about the dangers of the coronavirus epidemic, the gravity of which had not yet fully registered with Trump or his White House.

For his troubles, Carlson was actually exposed to the coronavirus, along with Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, all of whom had been in the room with infected Brazilian officials attending the party…

Tucker Carlson started talking more extensively about the virus on his Fox News show on February 3, spurred, he says, by harrowing reports emerging from China. Trump, it seems, was the last to know. A White House adviser arranged for Carlson to meet with Trump so the TV personality could, in essence, penetrate Trump’s bubble. They talked for two hours. The oncoming pandemic, Carlson told him, was an existential threat to the nation. To translate it into Trumpian language, an existential threat to his reelection. Mike Pence joined at one point. Carlson won’t discuss the president’s reaction on the record, but suffice it to say that Trump’s denial went on for another week while the pandemic ballooned and right-wing allies—many of them on Fox News—suggested the virus was a liberal hoax and members of Congress, as recently as three days ago, told people to continue going out in public as if nothing was happening.

I’ve known Tucker Carlson for 20 years, since before his infamous Jon Stewart debate on CNN in 2004 and before his paleoconservative tendencies—he was always sympathetic to Pat Buchanan—found their moment in the election of Donald J. Trump, reanimating his career. Carlson has always been one of the most intelligent and reliably savage observers of Washington—even more so off camera. A canny TV diplomat, he won’t say Trump is terrified, weak, politically doomed, in deep denial and surrounded by toadies and mediocrities. But what he does say is enough to make you realize we’re entering uncharted territory…

A sample of the ensuing tonguebath:

We’re at the point where conservative media and right-wing politicians take their cues from Trump and from the White House. Tell me when you decided that maybe something had gone out of whack.

So a lot of Trump voters believe that all news about Trump is designed to hurt Trump. And they’re absolutely right about that. It’s been monomaniacal, the coverage of Trump. So when the moment came, when there was something that ultimately really didn’t have anything to do with Trump, which is the emergence of a weird new virus from Eastern China, they were trained to believe that all coverage was designed to hurt Trump. Because that’s been true. So it was very hard to convince a lot of those news consumers that this was fundamentally not a political story.

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