I was just listening to Chris Stirewalt and Eliana Johnson's podcast, Ink-Stained Wretches, and Mr. Stirewalt let the cat out of the bag regarding the journalism industry. He was talking about Nikki Haley's campaign, and a new ad her super-PAC has put out, and he said that the media hadn't given her much "earned coverage" in the past because they didn't think she was tough enough on Trump.
Well, now she's being tough on Trump, and Mr. Stirewalt said it won't make any difference, because the media feels like Trump himself generates all the clicks they need, and also, they don't want Haley to succeed, because she could be a strong candidate in the general election. They don't want to give an inch to a conservative candidate who might do well.
I can follow that sort of analysis and use it often enough, but I find it slightly dissatisfying. It uses a lot of anthropomorphizing group behavior—in this case, mindless group think—as if a herd were actually cogitating alike and enforcing volition.
On the other hand, at a distance it looks as if there were a conspiracy at work. On that hand it looks as if the journo herd were implementing mindless plans to smother the Haley campaign by denying it the oxygen of coverage.
On the other hand, there’s also the basic fact that Trump and his antics earn clicks and TV ratings. That’s probably still somewhat due to his celebrity status, especially among the classes and income brackets who wouldn’t otherwise consume supposedly *serious* news product—the types of people traditionally less interested in politics than in celebrity gossip about movie stars, pop and country singers, pro athletes.
Either way, the outcome is the same. Traditional politicians like Haley don’t rate high enough in clicks and TV hits to draw and keep an audience, except when Trump draws attention to them by hurling insults. The press they “earn” from that is largely belittling and humiliating. Hard to overcome that and turn it into a strength.
This is not to claim that the majority of interest in Trump is celebrity-type interest. It would only need to be maybe 10 or 20 percent of the voting public to make enough difference that traditional politicians and campaigns wouldn’t be able to defeat it. The traditional pols would just have to be waiting in the wings, hoping the main act for that dedicated section of the audience finally keels over or somehow self-immolates.
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that if the voting public starts to deviate from conventional-wisdom expectations (which I think it has to in this unconventional cycle) when it comes to actual, you know, voting, then it will be news, and the news people will have to start paying attention. Even if they can't interpret it correctly, the reality will be out there. (Cue Buffalo Springfield: "Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear."
Good points. Mr. Stirewalt conveyed the impression that one shouldn't assume an active conspiracy - "There's no JournoList any more!" - but that it's just what they're like. He's deep in the business, so I believe him when he says journalists don't want a conservative to succeed. They'd rather have Trump again.
Does the fact I mixed up Xena and Xenia a sign of Dementia? 😱 Tbf, my oldest lives just outside of Xenia, OH, and I never saw the tv show of the other.
I see there’s a lot about Joe Biden’s stutter, and I thought I’d share a bit. Growing up I had a lisp: in middle I began to stutter as well. When I went off to college I did speech therapy for three years, learning new ways of talking (the downside is it mangled my Midwest accent). I used to try to rush sentences to finish them before I stuttered (causing more lisping and stuttering). I learned to pause, take breaths. At UD some faculty (who don’t know I had a stutter) proclaimed me the king of the “pregnant pause”. My best friend Christy learned I paused more when I was stressed, she’d often reach out to hold my hand during a pause. Pam did as well.
I’m no expert on language skills, but during Joe’s presser last night I saw some pauses which are “stutter prevention pauses”. But I saw several where he simply couldn’t remember something “our lady of……”. Biden does legit stutter, when he pauses mid sentence, and then finishes it, that’s trying not to stutter. When he pauses and cannot restart the sentence that’s the dementia kicking in.
What caused me particular concern was Biden being unable to remember when beau biden died. When my late mother was placed into guardianship, she was interviewed in my presence by a doctor to determine her mental capacity. She wasn't even able to remember the name of her husband, my father.
Joe Biden's lapse may not have been quite as bad, but it does seem to be like the senility my mother had.
Yeah, I was the only one of my mother's five children she readily recognize by sight, and she could recall my name. For some reason, my voice soothed her, so on my visit I often read her stories so she could go to sleep.
Fun fact: Each child had a "speed button" # on her phone. We put up a chart of the numbers, so she'd know who to call (I was #5). Our spouses were all a two digit # (Katie was 50), and our children our digit plus one for the kid's birth order (My oldest was 51, our daughter 52, etc.). So at a family reunion everyone's nametag had their name and number on it, so Mom would be able to recall who we were and how we were related.
Both were good. The MAGA alternative universe is getting pretty scary. Noonan is exactly right. I still don’t think the big media outlets fully understand how untrustworthy they’re perceived.
Peggy Noonan brings out a point too often overlooked: When Trump first announced, the New York media, who already know him, didn't take him seriously. After all, he floated possible runs in 2000 and 2012. But he was good for ratings.
by the time they discovered their mistake, it was too late. In a way, just as Xi Jinping allowed COVID to escape into the world, the New York media let Trump ontl the national political stage.
She makes many common sense suggestions on how to correct their behavior but they just seem to be unwilling to do that. It can't be that hard to keep your personal biases and emotions out of your reporting or columns, but they just can't. I read a few NYT columnists last night and came away again thinking they're too personally absorbed to give even a hint of objectivity when it comes to him, while at the same time not challenging Biden to get out in public, sit for interviews, explaining away his flaws with "but he's not as bad as Trump." I force myself to read them in an attempt to achieve some balance but some days it's painful.
Once there was an accordion player going home after a gig. It was around 2 am but he saw a diner open and decided he needed pie and coffee, so he stopped.
About half way through his pie he realized he had forgotten to lock his car. In a panic, he dashed out, only to find....
Good morning. Today the mothership reports on the release of the special counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden’s retention for classified materials after he left office. While the report recommends no prosecution, it does Biden no favors, referring to him as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”.
I don’t blame Big Guy for his anger at the presser last night. After all the help he gave Robert’s father Ben, helping Ben fix those chariot axels before the big race, that special counsel report must have felt like betrayal to him.
As I just pointed out at the Mothership, the press conference Biden held last night to prove that the description was inaccurate totally demonstrated that the description was absolutely accurate and even flattering.
To take the negative view on the press conference, you could say that, at some point, sympathy for a person whose family members have died wears off when the person dishonestly uses his family members' deaths for political campaigning. You could say that blaming your staff for taking classified material isn't all that "well-meaning."
Then you're just left with "poor memory" (inarguable) and "elderly man" (same).
I have to admit I have a similarly unflattering view of Biden. I’m not all that sure how you can tell someone who’s had a lifelong penchant for ridiculous fabulism is just going mushy in the noggin—all at once!
It’s a crying shame that we once again have two main candidates for the presidency, either of whom would be kept from that office at all costs in any country with a great enough sense of self-respect and long-term survival instincts.
Regular readers of TSAF will recall that the manul, or Pallas’s Cat, is our spirit animal. At the other end of the world, the Golden-Tailed Sapphire, Chrysuronia oenone, is a particularly lovely hummingbird found in the hummingbird-rich forests where the Andes drop down to the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. We could spend our whole lives learning about this insanely biodiverse region.
Golden-tailed sapphires are a species of Least Concern. They feed on the nectar of a variety of flowering vines and trees, and they have adapted to second-growth forest as well as coffee and cacao plantations.
Meanwhile, in Australia, you could find a diamond python, Morelia spilota spilota, in your suburban backyard or garage. A subspecies of the carpet python, M. spilota, the diamond python has a cool diamond pattern and grows up to 13 feet long, making it a medium-sized python.
Carpet pythons are nonvenomous, but carpet vipers, Echis pyramidum and Echis ocellatus, will kill you. In fact, they cause most of the world’s snakebite deaths, even though they are not found in Australia. Carpet vipers are native to Arabia and northeastern Africa. If you feel you must go to these places, please take a supply of Polyvalent Anti-viper Venom.
Finally, we have the Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana, an endangered primate native to central and southwestern China. These monkeys can be found in forests at altitudes up to 11,200 feet.
Feeding mainly on lichens, they live in polygamous family groups that can combine to form bands of up to 600 members. Predators include large raptors such as the Northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, and wild canines, such as yesterday’s dhole, and the Asiatic golden cat, Catopuma temmincki. Rated Near Threatened by IUCN, the Asiatic golden cat is found over a wide range, but most local populations are small.
Editorial note: TSAF will be going on hiatus for the season of Lent, during which the author will work on her soul and her Envirothon teams and her gardening.
No theme. I was looking up the hummingbird, but then the manul video popped up because I subscribe to their feed. Then I realized I had geographic variety and looked up recent news of Australian animals. Then carpet pythons suggested carpet vipers. Then I felt like I should include China and Googled "cute animal China." Then the golden cat eats the monkey.
We have a great director of the BOE. She is funny and real and creates a comfortable, community atmosphere. The way she combines integrity and grace is something to see. I can not say enough good things about her.
The company’s aim is to challenge Google in the search engine business. Of course, Google won’t sleep on that, and is constantly improving its AI search summaries, too.
I was just listening to Chris Stirewalt and Eliana Johnson's podcast, Ink-Stained Wretches, and Mr. Stirewalt let the cat out of the bag regarding the journalism industry. He was talking about Nikki Haley's campaign, and a new ad her super-PAC has put out, and he said that the media hadn't given her much "earned coverage" in the past because they didn't think she was tough enough on Trump.
Well, now she's being tough on Trump, and Mr. Stirewalt said it won't make any difference, because the media feels like Trump himself generates all the clicks they need, and also, they don't want Haley to succeed, because she could be a strong candidate in the general election. They don't want to give an inch to a conservative candidate who might do well.
I can follow that sort of analysis and use it often enough, but I find it slightly dissatisfying. It uses a lot of anthropomorphizing group behavior—in this case, mindless group think—as if a herd were actually cogitating alike and enforcing volition.
On the other hand, at a distance it looks as if there were a conspiracy at work. On that hand it looks as if the journo herd were implementing mindless plans to smother the Haley campaign by denying it the oxygen of coverage.
On the other hand, there’s also the basic fact that Trump and his antics earn clicks and TV ratings. That’s probably still somewhat due to his celebrity status, especially among the classes and income brackets who wouldn’t otherwise consume supposedly *serious* news product—the types of people traditionally less interested in politics than in celebrity gossip about movie stars, pop and country singers, pro athletes.
Either way, the outcome is the same. Traditional politicians like Haley don’t rate high enough in clicks and TV hits to draw and keep an audience, except when Trump draws attention to them by hurling insults. The press they “earn” from that is largely belittling and humiliating. Hard to overcome that and turn it into a strength.
This is not to claim that the majority of interest in Trump is celebrity-type interest. It would only need to be maybe 10 or 20 percent of the voting public to make enough difference that traditional politicians and campaigns wouldn’t be able to defeat it. The traditional pols would just have to be waiting in the wings, hoping the main act for that dedicated section of the audience finally keels over or somehow self-immolates.
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that if the voting public starts to deviate from conventional-wisdom expectations (which I think it has to in this unconventional cycle) when it comes to actual, you know, voting, then it will be news, and the news people will have to start paying attention. Even if they can't interpret it correctly, the reality will be out there. (Cue Buffalo Springfield: "Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear."
Good points. Mr. Stirewalt conveyed the impression that one shouldn't assume an active conspiracy - "There's no JournoList any more!" - but that it's just what they're like. He's deep in the business, so I believe him when he says journalists don't want a conservative to succeed. They'd rather have Trump again.
I got back from walking at the Y, and glanced at X. I saw a story that German princess Xenia posed topless for Playboy.
a) Does playboy still exist (I didn't click on the article)
b) Who knew Germany still had royalty? (It appears she is a princess of Saxony. I wonder if she calls her texting device her Saxonphone)?
c) Is Princess Xenia a German or a Warrior princess?
The warrior princess was Xena, but it's possible that Princess Xenia does martial arts.
Does the fact I mixed up Xena and Xenia a sign of Dementia? 😱 Tbf, my oldest lives just outside of Xenia, OH, and I never saw the tv show of the other.
Stop it Al! You're too weird! 🤣
Weird al has been around for decades and is still hilarious!
(And a great sendup of a CSNY classic!)
I see there’s a lot about Joe Biden’s stutter, and I thought I’d share a bit. Growing up I had a lisp: in middle I began to stutter as well. When I went off to college I did speech therapy for three years, learning new ways of talking (the downside is it mangled my Midwest accent). I used to try to rush sentences to finish them before I stuttered (causing more lisping and stuttering). I learned to pause, take breaths. At UD some faculty (who don’t know I had a stutter) proclaimed me the king of the “pregnant pause”. My best friend Christy learned I paused more when I was stressed, she’d often reach out to hold my hand during a pause. Pam did as well.
I’m no expert on language skills, but during Joe’s presser last night I saw some pauses which are “stutter prevention pauses”. But I saw several where he simply couldn’t remember something “our lady of……”. Biden does legit stutter, when he pauses mid sentence, and then finishes it, that’s trying not to stutter. When he pauses and cannot restart the sentence that’s the dementia kicking in.
What caused me particular concern was Biden being unable to remember when beau biden died. When my late mother was placed into guardianship, she was interviewed in my presence by a doctor to determine her mental capacity. She wasn't even able to remember the name of her husband, my father.
Joe Biden's lapse may not have been quite as bad, but it does seem to be like the senility my mother had.
Yeah, I was the only one of my mother's five children she readily recognize by sight, and she could recall my name. For some reason, my voice soothed her, so on my visit I often read her stories so she could go to sleep.
Fun fact: Each child had a "speed button" # on her phone. We put up a chart of the numbers, so she'd know who to call (I was #5). Our spouses were all a two digit # (Katie was 50), and our children our digit plus one for the kid's birth order (My oldest was 51, our daughter 52, etc.). So at a family reunion everyone's nametag had their name and number on it, so Mom would be able to recall who we were and how we were related.
This is excellent. Weird Al definitely took it to the next level while leveraging his assets.
From the mothership courtesy of JohnM:
Worth Your Time: 'Why MAGA Loves Russia and Hates Ukraine'--David French
http://tinyurl.com/4ya578e9
'Can the Media Get Trump Coverage Right?'--Peggy Noonan
http://tinyurl.com/3us6uea3
Both were good. The MAGA alternative universe is getting pretty scary. Noonan is exactly right. I still don’t think the big media outlets fully understand how untrustworthy they’re perceived.
Peggy Noonan brings out a point too often overlooked: When Trump first announced, the New York media, who already know him, didn't take him seriously. After all, he floated possible runs in 2000 and 2012. But he was good for ratings.
by the time they discovered their mistake, it was too late. In a way, just as Xi Jinping allowed COVID to escape into the world, the New York media let Trump ontl the national political stage.
She makes many common sense suggestions on how to correct their behavior but they just seem to be unwilling to do that. It can't be that hard to keep your personal biases and emotions out of your reporting or columns, but they just can't. I read a few NYT columnists last night and came away again thinking they're too personally absorbed to give even a hint of objectivity when it comes to him, while at the same time not challenging Biden to get out in public, sit for interviews, explaining away his flaws with "but he's not as bad as Trump." I force myself to read them in an attempt to achieve some balance but some days it's painful.
Trump=Covid. Great, that one's gonna last all day in my mind! 🙄
This French quote was potent: "Ronald Reagan isn’t just rolling over in his grave; he may also lurch from it in a fit of incredulous rage."
Donald Trump and the MAGA Right deserve to be haunted by the ghost of Ronald Reagan.
Meh.
Duh, and no.
Good morning.
The accordion stretched out to illustrate flexibility was great!.
I was struck with a random "learning to play accordion might be interesting " thought the other day. It was strange.
"Telling the truth can be dangerous business
Honesty and tack don't walk hand in hand
if you admit you play the accordion
They won't let you in, their rock 'n roll band"
(From Ishtar).
Once there was an accordion player going home after a gig. It was around 2 am but he saw a diner open and decided he needed pie and coffee, so he stopped.
About half way through his pie he realized he had forgotten to lock his car. In a panic, he dashed out, only to find....
.....3 more accordions in the back seat.
(The joke also works with banjos.)
Ha!
But - Weird Al?!
When I glanced at your comment in my email, I though you were referring to the DOJ report.
Accordions are heavy.
You could start with a concertina until you develop the upper body strength.
Very.
Good morning. Today the mothership reports on the release of the special counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden’s retention for classified materials after he left office. While the report recommends no prosecution, it does Biden no favors, referring to him as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”.
I don’t blame Big Guy for his anger at the presser last night. After all the help he gave Robert’s father Ben, helping Ben fix those chariot axels before the big race, that special counsel report must have felt like betrayal to him.
😂
As I just pointed out at the Mothership, the press conference Biden held last night to prove that the description was inaccurate totally demonstrated that the description was absolutely accurate and even flattering.
Oy. That was an un-a-sisi-ed own goal by Biden.
That's in a category by itself. I should call an 🚑 for whatever you threw out in making that up.
I try.
Not quite as strained as Joe’s peas, though.
Oy, that was a very strained pun.
To take the negative view on the press conference, you could say that, at some point, sympathy for a person whose family members have died wears off when the person dishonestly uses his family members' deaths for political campaigning. You could say that blaming your staff for taking classified material isn't all that "well-meaning."
Then you're just left with "poor memory" (inarguable) and "elderly man" (same).
I have to admit I have a similarly unflattering view of Biden. I’m not all that sure how you can tell someone who’s had a lifelong penchant for ridiculous fabulism is just going mushy in the noggin—all at once!
It’s a crying shame that we once again have two main candidates for the presidency, either of whom would be kept from that office at all costs in any country with a great enough sense of self-respect and long-term survival instincts.
I agree with everything, except the fact that Biden uses family deaths attention to campaign. I think Beaus death sent him spinning.
That's a reasonable view. His slander of the other driver in his first wife's fatal at-fault accident went on for many years, though.
True
That was an excellent video. Great artwork. I really respect people who can just think up stuff like that.
Here's a new song from The Dead South:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb4EobvSJk4
They're coming to Charlotte later this month, but not to a venue I will go to, plus we don't go out Sunday nights due to Envirothon on Mondays.
I liked that one.
Today’s special animal friends are all over the map. First, here’s a nice manul teenbro named Shu enjoying some winter weather in the Leningrad Zoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaxdScxHE7Y
Regular readers of TSAF will recall that the manul, or Pallas’s Cat, is our spirit animal. At the other end of the world, the Golden-Tailed Sapphire, Chrysuronia oenone, is a particularly lovely hummingbird found in the hummingbird-rich forests where the Andes drop down to the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. We could spend our whole lives learning about this insanely biodiverse region.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCPiIrtS7sc
Golden-tailed sapphires are a species of Least Concern. They feed on the nectar of a variety of flowering vines and trees, and they have adapted to second-growth forest as well as coffee and cacao plantations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpYFKnMGomQ
Meanwhile, in Australia, you could find a diamond python, Morelia spilota spilota, in your suburban backyard or garage. A subspecies of the carpet python, M. spilota, the diamond python has a cool diamond pattern and grows up to 13 feet long, making it a medium-sized python.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CtZOF-46rM
Carpet pythons are nonvenomous, but carpet vipers, Echis pyramidum and Echis ocellatus, will kill you. In fact, they cause most of the world’s snakebite deaths, even though they are not found in Australia. Carpet vipers are native to Arabia and northeastern Africa. If you feel you must go to these places, please take a supply of Polyvalent Anti-viper Venom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCBkKStLXRE
Finally, we have the Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana, an endangered primate native to central and southwestern China. These monkeys can be found in forests at altitudes up to 11,200 feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yARtExKaIH8
Feeding mainly on lichens, they live in polygamous family groups that can combine to form bands of up to 600 members. Predators include large raptors such as the Northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, and wild canines, such as yesterday’s dhole, and the Asiatic golden cat, Catopuma temmincki. Rated Near Threatened by IUCN, the Asiatic golden cat is found over a wide range, but most local populations are small.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJmibGbUs6A
Editorial note: TSAF will be going on hiatus for the season of Lent, during which the author will work on her soul and her Envirothon teams and her gardening.
Having trouble deciding, Cynthia? 🙂
I figured that every reader could find something to love in the selection.
I was looking for a theme. It seemed at first to be precious metals and jewels, but Manul and the carpet pythons are outliers.
Manul is sort of a mascot. And in Arabia, carpets are very much a thing, whether magic or the product of human artisans.
So maybe no theme. But thanks for the announcement and the extra animals.
No theme. I was looking up the hummingbird, but then the manul video popped up because I subscribe to their feed. Then I realized I had geographic variety and looked up recent news of Australian animals. Then carpet pythons suggested carpet vipers. Then I felt like I should include China and Googled "cute animal China." Then the golden cat eats the monkey.
Nothing wrong with having a sampler or grab bag once in a while.
Here’s how the Perplexity.ai answered the question, “How do you treat the bit of a carpet viper?”
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/aa5663a5-2735-4619-bc03-7ac0a01ec72e
(It doesn’t permit copying and pasting the text itself.)
Underwhelming. It's basic venomous-snakebite advice.
Self-help in that case appears to be very limited.
Yeah, you're gonna die.
😱
Wouldn’t bands of up to 600 members be better designated “symphony orchestras”?
That's an awfully big orchestra.
Good morning, everyone. It's Friday here. I need to go to Walmart for cat litter.
Friday here, too. I have election training this morning.
Take plenty of coffee!
We have a great director of the BOE. She is funny and real and creates a comfortable, community atmosphere. The way she combines integrity and grace is something to see. I can not say enough good things about her.
But, yes, the travel mug is out.
Thank heavens for that! And for you and other polling-place volunteers, considering how the obnoxious stolen-election mumbo-jumbo looms once again.
It was a particularly sore point for me.
Just to be clear: actual poll workers do get paid.
Not enough. I will never do it again. But good for you for being willing.
All the better that your BOE director has a good sense of humor!
I thought it was strictly voluntary. Though I don’t imagine it’s a competitive hourly rate, considering state and municipal government finances.
Well, good. It sounds like you'll have a nice time.
Here’s something to play around with. It’s an AI search engine that summarizes the websites it finds.
https://www.perplexity.ai/
The company’s aim is to challenge Google in the search engine business. Of course, Google won’t sleep on that, and is constantly improving its AI search summaries, too.
He really is quite clever
Quiet here this morning. You in Colorado?
I’m in Colorado - Denver - visiting my daughter and her husband.
Whoah! Enjoy the Rocky Mountain air!
On the way. Had a nice visit with my mother.
Seems to be a decent musician, too.
He is.