Open Thread Jan. 30: He’s Not a Real President, But He Plays One on TV
The State of the Union? Nobody cares, and nobody should, Jim Newell argues, because “it has lost its efficacy in the age of the one-minute news cycle.”
Speaking of tired scripts, Republicans are continuing their pretense, apparently for the consumption of their cult alone, that the FBI is engaged in a coup against Trump (to which I say, if only). The House voted to release their “memo” about this earth-shattering news. I’m starting to think that a lot of these Republicans are doing this out of more than loyalty to Trump. I suspect the Russians are paying off more than just Trump and Rohrabacher, because only naked greed would give sufficient motivation to sell out the country like this. I don’t believe people like Nunes and Gaetz would invest so much just to ride Trump’s coattails. There has to be something more in it for them.
Hey, I admit I was fooled by Julian Assange when WikiLeaks first emerged. But it’s long since become clear that he’s not the impartial revealer of secrets he pretends to be. Long, boring story, but when Sean Hannity’s Twitter account got hacked, he deleted it and people set up fake Hannity accounts. Assange actually contacted one of them to offer the not-actually-Hannity damaging information about Virginia Sen. Mark Warner. Assange is just lucky he was already hiding out the Ecuadorean embassy in London when #metoo broke out — people wouldn’t be so quick to believe he was set up on rape charges if they emerged today.
Gross but interesting story about Kevin Spacey centered on his older brother, Randy Fowler (Spacey is stage name). Randy has written a book about his childhood in which he recounts being <a href="“raped and beaten by their father, who also was a Nazi sympathizer. “All my life I thought I had protected Kevin from my father,” Randy Fowler told The Sun, “and it turns out it’s all for nothing because he’s worse than my father.”
Do you enjoy the films of Woody Allen? If yes, shame on you! I call on you to condemn him! But if you do, be aware that some people will defend him, and then you’ll have to condemn them, too. Pretty soon you’ll need a team of soap-opera writers to keep track of whose side everyone is on. Even back when I watched films I wouldn’t have cared, but the subject is gobbling up lots of pixels on the internet so I thought I’d mention it.
State of the State addresses can be thrown in there with State of the nation. But before calling all one minute news cycles worthless, listen to Russell Mokhiber’s Corporate Crime Minute direct from the National Press Building. Read in Machine Gun fashion with a teletype in the background, it’s an excellent productive way to spend one minute out of your day. Rarely does The Hill, or any MSM outlet or any Politician touch these stories, wonder why?
Agree on Assange who has many, many issues when you start to look close. No surprise that RT and Sputnik have started backing off this guy and I don’t want to see US tax dollars spent prosecuting him, let him self destruct. Snowden I still like, but they are very different people.
I can proudly say I never cared for the Beatles or Woody Allen. Woody Allen always struck me as someone who was picked on by both the girls and the boys in 2nd grade, … and deserved it. The great hypocrisy which is Hollywood and why it produces so many players on the World Political Scene. Who else could give us Cher and Sonny Bono, not to mention Weinstein.
Stick with Russell Mokhiber, he’s for real.
I’m pissed MPR took Garrison Keillor’s back catalog off the Internet. He had many great musical guests who put in some terrific live performances.
I’m pretty sure only a misogynist could enjoy those performances knowing they were enabled by a sexual harasser. It’s sackcloth and ashes for you, my friend.
@Gerry: What he means by the 1-minute news cycle isn’t the length of the individual news items, but that we’re on to a new story every 60 seconds.
I agree, Mokhiber is the real deal.
@A “The House voted to release their “memo” about this earth-shattering news.”
Why doesn’t the press call this what it is: Obstruction of justice?
I’ve lost $7K out of my IRA in 2 days which is a big deal for a guy who is barely middle class and feeding 4 people. I’m sure some Hedge fund has scooped up my loss and the fund manager will get a tax break for my loss though. I wonder if the bellicose POS will brag about the stock market tonight?
The “release the memo” game is a new phase in marketing the “scandals” the Republicans seems to generate with ever increasing frequency, don’t come out and start yelling “Benghazi!”, act as if something big is coming even if it’s a sad joke when it finally gets there. Same for the famed “deep state”, prove nothing and just keep talking about it as if it means something. Works for the drones and clones of the Republican base, but not much else.
If it ain’t broken… the memo will make all the network news.
I don’t understand what the dilemma about Woody Allen is about. Okay, he’s probably a pedophile. But what does that have to do with the quality of his movies? Was Lewis Carroll a bad writer because he was one or is Nabakov’s Lolita trash because he had a thing for underage teenage girls? I’m sorry the universe arranged itself so that moral creeps can have exemplary talents. Them’s the cosmic breaks.
All I can say is thank god Hillary isn’t President..
So, so original. How long did it take you to think up that snappy line, Bunky?
Tommy. You can comment here. Just make sure to take out the trash and empty the dishwasher.
Large adult son.
Don’t you people think a lot of the Success Trump took credit for in the State of the Union address would have happened anyway if Obama would have still been in charge?
Yes the expansion would have continued anyway. But one thing Trump will own, is the hard landing when the tax-cut driven equities bubble inevitably bursts.