Thursday, August 15, 2024

Today's News: Harris/Walz v. the national press



Once again, America's national press are whining about Kamala Harris not holding press conferences.
Oh sure.... 
Folks, its not happening, not until after next week's Democratic Convention - when the party will endorse policy positions on all sorts of things. 
Remembering, of course, that the Republicans didn't even discuss a party platform last month (hiding their support for the 2025 project ) and the Trump campaign journalists didn't care. 
In reality, the journalists shadowing the Harris campaign don't care about the FTC stuff either -- they just want Harris to give them a few off-the-cuff comments that can be turned into controversial headlines. 
The New York Times Pitchbot parody account gets it:
 At Daily Kos, Markos writes Kamala Harris doesn't owe the national press anything:
...A presidential candidate’s job is to win. That’s it! So pray tell, how does talking to The New York Times or any other national media outlet help that cause? Either journalists will ask ridiculous, shallow questions and waste everyone’s time, or they’ll fish for a gotcha quote they can use to generate “controversy” and clicks. Or they might actually ask a policy question, which … no one cares. Literally, no one. For decades, Democrats issued reams of policy white papers, and no one cared. At best, those policy proclamations are ignored; at worst, they become attack fodder for the other party.
There are two candidates this election, and no one is basing their decision on the finer points of a policy platform. They are basing it on values. Republicans have known this and wielded it to great electoral success, and now Democrats are finally there.
On his substack, Jeff Tiedrich writes hey media: Kamala doesn’t owe you jackals a press conference, so stuff it
...the Times has been pulling this crap for years. they pretend they want to “understand” an issue, so they round up five MAGA dipshits in an Arbys in Midland, Texas, listen to them pontificate on crap they know nothing about, and then write it up as here’s the scoop on what Real Amurricans think.
just once, I’d love to see the Times round up five Harris fans in a Whole Foods in Greenwich, Connecticut and ask them what they think.
but no, that would destroy The Narrative that it’s only the cOnSeRvATiVes fRoM tHe HeArTLand who are the “real” face of America....
...hey, Washington Post, I’m demanding that you sit down for an interview with me. my first question is what the fuck are you doing, publishing this misogynistic twaddle?
Without her beauty, Harris might be joining Biden in retirement. All you have to do is imagine her spoken words coming from a less-attractive package. Or put her on radio.
Harris remains the person she has been for the past 3½ years: a sometimes bumbling beauty with a stride that conveys confidence if not precisely competence.
I shit you not, this is from a Kathleen Parker hit job entitled “News flash: Kamala Harris is not a remake of Barack Obama.” Parker’s premise, in this Year of our Lord 2024, is that Kamala is a vacuous bubblehead who has been coasting on her looks.
is Kamala now supposed to reward these journalistic jackoffs with a sit-down interview? I think not.
news flash for our media:
Kamala Harris does not owe you a press conference, and you have no right to demand one.
let’s imagine that Kamala agreed to hold a presser tomorrow. we all know what would happen: it would devolve into a shit-show. the press would waste everyone’s time — and drop our collective IQ by three points — by asking worthless questions.
“Madam Vice President, Donald Trump says you only recently became Black. what is your response?”
who fucking cares? what fresh insight could possibly be gained by asking these kinds of questions? what’s Kamala going to say, that Donny’s a racist lunatic? we already know this. what would be the point of bringing up the toxic sludge that oozes out of Donny’s rancid anus-mouth
“do you still have confidence in Tim Walz despite the controversy over his military service?”
by the way, THERE IS NO CONTROVERSY. this is a 100% Republican smear job. stop legitimizing it by pretending it’s real.
“when you were Border Czar—”
the media and the wingnuts love this completely fictitious talking point: Kamala was in charge of the border and as a result, eighty skillionty illegals are now criming up a storm. they’re jimmying the lock on your frail old granny’s front door right now.
fun fact: Kamala Harris was never a “border czar.” she was tasked with —
leading diplomatic efforts to reduce poverty, violence and corruption in Central America’s Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
this mission has nothing to do with administering border policy — but Republicans decided that assignment somehow made Kamala the “border czar,” and voila — now it’s right-wing gospel.
Kamala doesn’t need to cater to the banal Narrative of the national media. she’s been taking her case straight to the people, and the people fucking love her...

Two useful points:
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Sweeping up the Heart: Molly


Our Molly died today. 
She was diagnosed with gastric lymphoma cancer in May, and we knew from the beginning that it was incurable. We hoped we could at least have one more good summer with her, and for the most part that happened -- in the end, today was as long as she could last. 
Thank you, Molly, for being such a good dog.

The Bustle in a House 
The Morning after Death 
Is solemnest of industries 
Enacted upon Earth, – 

The Sweeping up the Heart 
And putting Love away 
We shall not want to use again 
Until Eternity.
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Today's News: Commentary on Poilievre v. journalists, and on Harris v. Trump (plus dissing Poilievre's wardrobe)


Starting with Poilievre v. journalists:

David Moscrop Why Pierre Poilievre disowns the extremists he flirts with
...Poilievre, who supported the Convoy that descended on and occupied Ottawa in 2022, keeps showing us who he is and this fits with that history. When he’s called out on that support, he simply turns the table, rails against the government and Trudeau, and attacks journalists. Pretending not to know of Diagolon gives him an opportunity to turn things around on the media and generate highly-clippable “gotchas” in a bid to control the narrative.
...Poilievre may be foolish, but he isn’t a fool. He’ll shun the media until he hears a question that allows him to frame discussions as he’d please – or else he’ll take the conversation in that direction anyway and berate journalists...
...As he attempts to portray himself as a respectable centrist, why was the leader of the official opposition cavorting with the far right? The best answer seems to be because he supports their anti-government ends....
In the face of Poilievre’s cynical politicking, the media and other observers ought to keep up the pressure. Keep asking questions, keep calling out his bullshit and flood the zone with the facts. If he gets aggressive, get aggressive right back. Bullies only understand and respond to power, and so the Conservative leader ought to get a dose of that in return every time he decides to “forget” what Diagolon is, hurls abuse at a wire service for issuing a correction as he did with the Canadian Press, or insists on taking a direct question and using it to attack the reporter who’s asking it, like he did when he attacked Akin.
This approach won’t make for elegant and conciliatory politics, but who thinks politics can always be elegant and conciliatory? And when a guy such as Poilievre shows up on the scene, the rules change. We must change right along with them.
And on a side note, before I lose track of this tweet, here is mens-wear guru Derek Guy's enjoyable critique of Poilievre's "t-shirt and jacket" look:
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Monday, August 12, 2024

Fun stuff: from Olympic horses to Olympic moments, from Fox News to other stuff, from dogs to plate tectonics. And fall is coming!



Well, the Olympics are over for another two years. Here are a few remaining odds and sods:
Post by @jennyjohnsonhi5
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Sunday, August 11, 2024

Today's news: Wanna know who is "online savvy"? That would be Trudeau, not Poilievre


So Canadian media have finally noticed Poilieve's "Bot-Gate" scandal and they just can't believe the CPC would actually do something so glaringly stupid, because Poilievre is just so "online savvy".
Oh, give me a break. 
Mr. Verb-The-Noun isn't down with the youngs at all.  Two weeks of Canadian Olympic success - the whole country is proud and excited - Canada even won a Gold Medal in Breakdancing, for heaven's sake! - and Poilievre hasn't tweeted a word of congratulations to anyone.
And could Poilievre and the Cons really be this petty? Yes, I do believe they could!
Anway, getting back to the point of this post, wanna know who actually IS "online savvy"? This simple, effective, funny tweet has 52,000 "likes", 7,000 re-tweets, and 1,500 comments:
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Saturday, August 10, 2024

Today's News: Ukraine's Kursk invasion


Here is a roundup from some of the better sources of Ukraine Russia War information, with their analysis about the recent surprising, and surprisingly successful, Kursk offensive:
Post by @ianbremmer
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As the war in Ukraine settled into a stalemate, two assumptions became prevalent among analysts: First, that it is nearly impossible to achieve any surprise on a battlefield blanketed by drones. Second, that it is nearly impossible to mount fast-moving offensive operations, given the extensive defenses erected by both sides. Ukraine has challenged both assumptions over the past few days with its surprise, lightning-fast thrust into Russia’s Kursk region — an area familiar to military historians as the site, during World War II, of the biggest tank battle in history.
The Ukrainian military shocked the entire world — and the Russian defenders — when it sent an armored column on Tuesday across the border from Ukraine’s Sumy region. There had been cross-border raids by Ukraine before, but those were much smaller operations conducted by Russian volunteers. This was something much more ambitious: a combined-arms offensive utilizing armored vehicles (some of them German- and U.S.-made), infantry, artillery and electronic-warfare equipment. Ukraine reportedly committed elements of four elite brigades to the operation....
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Friday, August 09, 2024

Did you know its International Cat Day?

Credit: Getty Images Copyright: Nico De Pasquale (Nico De Pasquale (Photographer)

August 8 is "International Cat Day" so let's go!
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Thursday, August 08, 2024

Today's News: Cue the Swiftboating


So at first glance, this story questioning Tim Walz's service record really does look innocuous -- another "just asking questions" article in the New York Times:
Post by @murshedzaheed
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But as Jamison Foser writes tonight, it isn't harmless at all -- Breaking: The New York Times helps JD Vance swiftboat Tim Walz:
...This is an extremely simple situation: JD Vance is lying about the military service of a fellow veteran for political gain. The story is extremely simple, and extremely important — and it is a story about JD Vance being a liar.
Journalists have a responsibility to tell that story, the story about JD Vance smearing a fellow veteran. Vance and Donald Trump want the story to be about a controversy over Walz’s military service. But that isn't the real story, because there is no controversy. There is the truth — Walz retired before his unit was called up — and there is JD Vance lying. Liars telling lies does not make a controversy; it’s just a guy lying.
Predictably, Vance and Trump are already getting a helping hand from the news media, which is privileging their lies.
...The first seven paragraphs of the New York Times article are devoted to recounting Vance’s false claims — without once even hinting at their falsity. The article portrays this as a problem for Walz instead of for Vance — and thus makes it so.
This is a classic example of privileging the lie, a phrase I developed in 2008 while at Media Matters for America to describe news reports that centers a false claim (rather than centering its falsity) and thus helps the person making the false claim spread their lie instead of holding them accountable for lying....
What Trump and Vance and the New York Times are doing is also a textbook example of “Swiftboating.” During the 2004 presidential campaign, Republicans — led by current Donald Trump advisor Chris LaCivita — smeared John Kerry over his service in Vietnam, where he served on Navy swift boats and was awarded three Purple Hearts.
What JD Vance is doing is as disgusting as politics gets. Privileging his lies, as The New York Times has done, is as disgusting as journalism gets ...
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Wednesday, August 07, 2024

Today's News: Laughing all the way



Saw some funny stuff today: And just to follow up on my last post:
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Tuesday, August 06, 2024

Today's News: RFK and the dead bear cub


This is even weirder than the dead brain worm story, and that's saying a lot. 
And yes, that's Roseanne Barr who he is talking to:
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Monday, August 05, 2024

Today's News: Poilievre's "Bot-gate" scandal


Hundreds of very excited twitter posts today from people from around the world talking about a recent Pierre Poilievre rally in Kirkland Lake Ontario. 
But they're all just fake "bots". 
They're not Canadians at all, they're not even real people -- its just a ridiculous grift to inflate Poilievre's support.
They even "braved the cold" to attend! Wonder what they thought about the black flies? And there's more... Canada should just point and laugh: Here's the reality: I'll bet Poilievre's staff will start claiming that all these people could have "participated" by Zoom, just like the Kamala virtual rallies going on.
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Sunday, August 04, 2024

Weekend funnies and animal crackers


Hope your mood is Quokka #7 at least.  And enjoy some of the other good stuff I have collected over the past few weeks.

First up, so to speak - the lighter side of the Olympics: And just by the way, Imane Khalif is a woman, not trans. 
And France should never have apologized for including trans-gender performers in the opening ceremony Last Supper parody, it just made the MAGA haters think they could boss everyone around. 

Moving on, it appears that Trump is still trying to figure out some way to avoid debating with Harris while somehow blaming her for it: Its becoming a meme too:
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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Today's News: "Brace yourselves"


Americans are wondering how they will deal with a three-month presidential campaign -- of course, the rest of the world is saying "that long? Ours are just a few weeks!". 
Just this year, England and France have both campaigned and voted in the few months between the US primaries and Biden's withdrawal. 
But America is used to a more leisurely pace.
Here is Josh Marshall talking about the unprecedented dynamics of a 100-day US presdential campaign:
...something totally unheard of and unprecedented in modern American political history. American presidential campaigns last at least 18 months. In some ways they’re perpetual. But there’s nothing in recent American history to compare to what Kamala Harris is doing right now.
The Trump campaign is obviously furious about the switch. Vance called it a sucker punch. They essentially wasted their convention on the wrong candidate. You can understand why they’re mad.
But the key part that stands out to me is this: a huge amount of modern Republican campaigns are based on wearing down a Democratic politician over months and years in the right-wing echo chamber. We saw it with Clinton, Obama, Clinton, Biden, Kerry. It’s a well, well worn thing. But it takes time. There are seldom knock-out punches. It’s a slow osmotic process. And the critical part of it takes place at the nexus where what’s happening in the right wing echo chamber bleeds into and begins to shape mainstream media reporting.
Obviously we don’t know how this campaign is going to play out. Looks pretty good ten days in, but there’s ten times more days coming. But regardless of how it plays out, this blitz factor — something totally new and unexpected right as the true campaign starts — is clearly wreaking havoc not only with the Trump campaign but with the whole far-flung Republican political and media apparatus.
Obviously there was no planning any of this. It only becomes possible out of the ashes of an electoral disaster. But some portion of what we’re seeing now derives from the fact that this late switch simply breaks the structure of American presidential politics and has, at least for the moment, allowed Harris to begin the presidential sprint while her opponent’s campaign is still trying to make sense of what happened.
This seems prescient:
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Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Today's News: from Biden passing the torch, to Olympic success, to Weird Trump, to White Dudes for Harris



Moving on to the Olympics, we see Canada doing great today. 

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Thursday, July 25, 2024

Today's News: Terrible news that Jasper is on fire


Terrible news tonight from Jasper National Park - multiple buildings in the town of Jasper are burning.. 
We always loved visiting Jasper -- it was almost as scenic as Banff, but without the crowding and the touristy kitsch (or at least, not as much). 
It was a easier drive too, from Saskatoon, especially after most of it was twinned. 
Whenever we drove to Vancouver, we usually took the easier Edmonton route, with its long and lazy valleys instead of twisting through the Calgary to Kamloops route. 
I cannot imagine how frightening and terrible it would be to get told to evacuate at 10 pm, then drive all night to get to safety. 
Such outstanding courage those people are showing us all.
...Parks Canada says firefighters continue to battle to save as many structures as possible in the Jasper townsite.
“Today has been an exceptionally difficult day for Jasperites, incident personnel and everyone who loves Jasper,” said the agency.
Crews working to save homes, businesses and critical infrastructure will be supported by “many more” structural firefighters en route to the community.
...Jasper is under attack by fires from the north and south, and the town’s 5,000 residents -- along with 20,000 park visitors -- have already left.
The northern fire was spotted five kilometres from Jasper earlier Wednesday.
The southern fire had been reported eight kilometres distant from the town, but Katie Ellsworth, with Parks Canada, said strong wind gusts swooping in behind it sent it racing.
Everything that could go wrong earlier Wednesday did go wrong.
Fire perimeters changed minute by minute.
Ellsworth said bucketing efforts by helicopter failed.
Crews using heavy equipment to build fireguards couldn’t complete the work before having to pull back for safety.
Water bombers couldn’t help due to dangerous flying conditions.
A last-ditch effort to use controlled burns to reroute the fire to natural barriers like Highway 16 and the Athabasca River failed due to “unfavourable conditions.”
The hope was that up to 20 mm of rain, forecast to begin falling in the area later Wednesday night, would bring some relief.
Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen has asked the Canadian Armed Forces for help.
"We are requesting firefighting resources, aerial support to move wildfire crews and equipment and more," Loewen wrote on the social media platform X.


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