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Jul 22, 2019
Dumb Dumber And DumFux news
WaPo:
This is a story about how the lowest common denominator of popular media paved the way for the lowest common denominator of populist politics. And it’s got data.
It begins with the opening of Italy’s airwaves, long the dominion of the highly regarded public broadcaster RAI. In the 1980s, an aggressive and unabashedly unsophisticated channel called Mediaset elbowed its way into the market and spread across the country, buying up small local channels and countering RAI’s educational mission with a heavy dose of cartoons, sports, soap operas, movies and other light entertainment.
By 1990, 49 out of 50 Italians could watch Mediaset — half of the country had gained access in just five years. These unusual events allowed a team of Italian economists to compare towns that initially had Mediaset with otherwise equivalent towns that didn’t get reception until later, and thus calculate how a few extra years of lowbrow TV can shape a society’s politics.
The results are bleak. In the American Economic Review, Ruben Durante of Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Paolo Pinotti of Bocconi University in Milan and Andrea Tesei of Queen Mary University of London analyze detailed broadcast-transmitter data to show that more exposure to Mediaset’s vapid programming was followed by an enduring boost in support for populist candidates peddling simple messages and easy answers.
You may think this relationship has an obvious explanation, presumably because you’re aware that Mediaset’s founder and controlling owner is noted populist politician and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. But the researchers go to great lengths to prove this isn’t just a Berlusconi effect. For starters, the bump extends to his populist competitors, particularly the Five Star Movement. Founded on a comedian’s blog a decade ago, the anti-establishment movement became the biggest single party in Italy’s Parliament after last year’s election.
And before we just shrug it off as "Gee that's wacky - Life Imitating Art", let's remind ourselves that the "art" here is political artifice, and that we tend to do what we're taught to do.
Propaganda works.
Propaganda works.
It's Omarosa
Omarosa has no room to talk about the kind of ethical flexibility required to throw your supporters under the bus.
She makes a good point though - and it's one I've neglected lately: Practically speaking, none of this shit happens by accident. It's all part of the plan.
She makes a good point though - and it's one I've neglected lately: Practically speaking, none of this shit happens by accident. It's all part of the plan.
Cognitive Blanking
Joe Scarborough is a loathsome dolt. For a year or more, MSNBC in general, but Morning Joe in particular gave 45* hours and hours of free air time - and a daily tongue bath - figuring it was a sure bet that Hillary would win and they'd spend the next 4-8 years continuing to cash in on their standard both-sides bullshit.
Now, of course, Scabrous Joe and Meeka-Mouse the Attack MILF are shocked and appalled to find out that the Republican Party is filled with Republicans (thanks, Driftglass) - conveniently ignoring that those same Republicans have been those same Republicans for at least a generation.
As is usually the case, the number one imperative at this point is to erase history and pretend that Trump is the real problem; that he has remade the GOP in his image rather than being the near-perfect reflection of what the GOP is now and has been morphing into for 35 years.
BTW - not to put too fine a point on it, but the Trump guy? - ain't no cheese on that cheesy cracker's cracker.
Jul 21, 2019
On Any Give Sunday
Dear Trump-gelicals,
Jesus called - while you were all over at his dad's place - on his only day off - suckin' up to him and asking him for a buncha free stuff. Anyway, Jesus called - left y'all a message:
Jesus called - while you were all over at his dad's place - on his only day off - suckin' up to him and asking him for a buncha free stuff. Anyway, Jesus called - left y'all a message:
That Life Lesson Again
@PeteButtigieg:
“If we adopt a platform that's way out to the left, they’re going to say we're socialists. If we adopt a more moderate or conservative platform, they're going to say we're socialists. So we might as well just do what we think is right...”
“If we adopt a platform that's way out to the left, they’re going to say we're socialists. If we adopt a more moderate or conservative platform, they're going to say we're socialists. So we might as well just do what we think is right...”
Today's Tweet
This is no small thing and it's from a year ago.
Germans know fascism when they see it.— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 20, 2019
Today the nation's top magazine, Stern, declares @POTUS @realDonaldTrump a Nazi.
Yesterday Chancellor Angela Merkel came to the defense of US Congress "Squad."https://t.co/JtAvSpZeDN pic.twitter.com/fD7VULGxxY
Jul 20, 2019
Deep Thought
50 Years
Apollo 11 landed on the moon at 2:17 PM MDT.
We pleaded with the boss to let us close the Rec Center Pool a little early so we could get home to a TV and watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon that evening.
I made it home just in time - about a mile and a quarter in under 8 minutes. I never peddled that little 2-speed bike harder.
We pleaded with the boss to let us close the Rec Center Pool a little early so we could get home to a TV and watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon that evening.
I made it home just in time - about a mile and a quarter in under 8 minutes. I never peddled that little 2-speed bike harder.
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