Landsnark

Pay attention, folks. Prof. Phil Griffin is conducting a master class in how to produce dreck while destroying: a network, the perception of journalism, and the sanctity of American Presidential politics. [slow clap] Way to go, Griffin. In decades, academics will look back at this period and MSNBC in particular and use it as a textbook example of how ethics and integrity disintegrate (or are intentionally quashed) at the nexus of business, politics, and journalism (and incompetence.)

Ha. Christie just endorsed Trump. Trump/Christie ticket? Joe Scarborough imagines in ecstasy.

Ron Fournier was upset with Hillary? No. Way! Joe doesn't care about Trump's indiscretions because "people don't care?" Even though he's "the media" that he condemned earlier for not tougher on Trump. Even though he demands that people care about silly bullshit like Hillary's speeches. Fox News may provide a more level, sane interpretation of data than this show. It's surreal what's happening.

Olbermann was fired for much, much less than what Joe is doing now. He's running amok. And yes, obviously the producer is in on the cynical ratings grab. If he's not, he should be fired. This is a strategy by MSNBC... they are just hoping not to have to endure too much professional blowback from being so obviously and cynically biased. Trump = ratings. Period. They have to grab ad dollars now before the election because this Pax Trumpana ends in November and they are back to sparse ratings and less revenue. Though, MSNBC ratings would explode if Olbermann were hired back as an evening counterpoint to Scarborough. Holy jeez it would be epic. If you go through MSNBC's programming over the past 4 or 5 years, it's been catch-as-catch can, throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks programming. Chris Hayes has hosted 2 major shows, both failed. Evening programming has tried double wonky, pure liberal, personality/tabloid driven/shouting... and nothing caught on save for Olbermann and Maddow. The daytime programming is a farce. It changes so much so frequently nothing is sure... it's just an indistinct blob of repeated sounds from 9am until Chuck Todd at 5pm, who has a brand new show, for now. The network is adrift in terms of identity, and Phil Griffin is a failure.

Boeing has moved here to Charleston in the past 7 or so years. The reason they moved here is that SC is strongly anti-workers' unions and the state agreed to not tax Boeing (I'm not sure how long the untaxed status lasts, I think 20 years). So an aeronautical mega-corporation moves here and hires very very low-skilled workers at ridiculous wages. All professional employees Boeing uses come from outside of the state. They move here. Boeing and these transplants make all the money and weigh HEAVILY upon SC infrastructure w/out paying taxes to support the infrastructure. It's a recipe for disaster and is wholly unsustainable. Boeing cycles through their low-paid workers relentlessly. They work them like serfs and if they complain they get fired. Simple. The work is very pressurized, the hours are very long, and the pay is very low. I was just in the gym and a commercial I heard on the radio said something about not allowing un-American unions coming in and taking from us what we've earned, and something else about America and something else about the holy merits of honest labor and something else about being takers. Boeing must spend millions on these commercials. I've read anecdotes about Boeing "enforcers" or thugs visiting pro-union types at their homes. Economically, South Carolina is a very very shitty place. And the idiots here vote against their own best interests because 'Murica. Joe merely toes the political party line when he crows about manufacturing in SC. Companies come here for the dumb, unskilled labor that will never unionize, and the lack of taxes. Hell, there aren't even any good engineering schools in the state, let alone aeronautical programs.

I want to see every private contract Trump has ever agreed to and hear all private negotiations he's ever conducted because I need to negatively judge the fact he does things to earn money and I hate it because he works with big businesses and is a woman. Or something. I'll just repeat this constantly thus proving he's a liar and sinister. Or something. We're all aware that Hillary is being excoriated for getting paid to speak at conferences for Wall Street firms, and Donald Trump actually literally fucking owns parts of the real Wall Street? We're aware of this? I wonder if Joe will point out this inconsistency. Because $500,000 paid to Mrs Clinton will manipulate her into flushing America down the toilet, and $9B in leveraged real estate holds absolutely zero hold over Donald Trump's decisions? Right. Makes sense. Let's just go with that. Seems legit.

fwiw, this is the value of being connected and influential. It's a real world example of the positive benefit of being a career "insider" and being a professional politician who can influence outcomes. It's the purpose of wielding influence and power. It's what you want from states people. "David Cameron rigged the negotiations for Clinton" "Angela Merkel rigged the trade agreement for Clinton" "François Hollande rigged the support for ISIS operations for Clinton" Because leveraging connections is what you don't want from a politician = Bloviatin' Joe logic.

We were going to go, but tomorrow is going to be very crowded and it's been recommended by the owners of the hotel (friend of a friend) to get there before 6:30am. So... strike one. 6:30 for an 8am show? Nah. And, the restaurant (which is amazing, go if you ever visit, and the rooftop bar is fuuuuun when the weather is nice) isn't serving food or drinks. So that sucks. I'm not fasting from 6am to 10am. Also, you can't talk. I am not going to stand/sit quietly for 3 hours. And finally, I hate the show. I loathe Joe Scarborough, and I don't know if I could sit tight and listen to his horse shit in person. So, not going.

Did I say Ben Carson's "sit down segment?" I should have written "shit down segment." Ben Carson is absolutely bat shit crazy. What was his slow motion rant supposed to mean???? It was a word salad of conservative talking points. He just repeated "irresponsible spending," "neglected infrastructure," "Christian first," and connected those vague thoughts with various conjuctions and without context or meaning. Wow.

My MIL was the white haired lady holding a coffee and clapping behind Ben Carson as he was standing, introduced as they kicked it to commercial before his sit down segment. She thinks he's bat shit crazy. She texted us right afterwards and "I am mortified." Today was perhaps the worst example of Morning Joe being a securely locked echo chamber. He was off the charts insufferable, self-congratulatory and dishonest (which by the way, is the Trump Playbook). I got up and left the room repeatedly. I just can't listen.

The show is going to be 1/4 mile from my house for the rest of the week. So I think I'll go with my SIL, MIL, and a neighbor. They're each already white blonde and they will wear tight black turtlenecks and will each hold a sign (like a word balloon, thought bubble, etc...) above their heads that says, "Duh." Since Scarborough already dresses like me, and I feel certain we'll both be hungover, I just have to put on a wig that matches his hair, squint, and hold up a sign above my head that says, "Shut up! I am right!"

I was going to write a bunch of stuff about the show that annoys me... but there's too much. Joe enthusiastically insulting Clinton for being paid to speak, then later asking a NYT writer why "the media" feels free to attack her constantly. Mika insulting Obama in order to praise Trump (and what she said was childish to the point of moronic). Meachem claiming "You know... the conventions of politics, people are exhausted by them," on a conventional political talk show that has grown to treat policy and governance as a celebrity-driven reality show... without a hint of self-awareness that he, Joe, Mika, MSNBC, the format, their competitors are part of the problem. This show is just bad. It's wildly biased. The commenters are unmoored from traditional journalistic ethics and they never honestly turn their focus to their own GIANT role in driving narratives and generating influence. Driving a new narrative is the name of the game in today's media, and political media is no different now than celebrity gossip... especially to your rank and file voter who has never missed an American Idol or any of their pet reality shows. I need to find a new show.

Mika and Joe should wear helmets tomorrow night for their own safety. Those softballs they are going to gently lob to Trump are going to be fired right back at them. It'll be like a batting cage. Also, shocker they arranged for this. It's 70'something degrees here right now, beautifully sunny, and it's Charleston. And Trump is their bff. Do MSNBC execs even watch their own network, I wonder? This is a paid vacation for them.

It could be argued that Scarborough is actually campaigning for Trump and is a proxy PR director. Scarborough is providing Trump with hours of free cheerleading on the only daily AM political chat show on American television. The air time that Scarborough has devoted to supporting and promoting Trump is worth tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars... let alone the volume of minutes that Scarborough brings on Trump via the phone. Trump is on their show daily and is allowed to ramble on unchecked and unquestioned. I'm certain that when he hung up on Trump it was purely theater. The first thing I thought of the moment I saw the article about this was that Scarborough would conveniently point to "the hang up" as "proof" that he is the most critical person of Trump.

Rubio refused to be on Morning Joe? http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Joe-Scarborough-Rubio-Dark-Money-Chrisie/2016/02/11/id/713833/ How fun would it be if it's a Rubio/Clinton run and they each simply ignore Morning Joe? I'd love that.

Rattner was on with charts and showed how banks have 3% less investments under their control since Dodd-Frank. Bloviatin', Hillary Hatin' Joe interrupted him to ejaculate a word salad that consisted of repeating anti-Hillary buzzwords and condemnations of banks and financial institutions. I changed channels in the middle. I have no idea why I give the show a chance every morning. I never watch it for more than a few moments until I'm angered by his blatant self-serving hypocrisy.

Christie has bowed out of another Presidential race. Tomorrow's gonna be interesting!

I missed the show this morning but for a few seconds where Joe shoe-horned in a crazy compliment for Trump where he claimed Trump made fools of "mainstream media" and "mainstream pundits," and such nonsense. What else was said? I wonder if he was sanctimonious and bloviating today... for the 10 millionth day in a row?

I had close friends who worked in the Clinton White House as interns. They knew Lewinsky. She was immediately noticeable and stood out because she didn't do any work, like anything at all. And she would turn into a sex kitten around the President, and she'd just appear next to him constantly. They called her "The Stalker" long before any shenanigans began. None of them were surprised that she was the one.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/all-the-terrible-things-hillary-clinton-has-done-in-one-big-list-2016-02-04?mod=mw_share_facebook I'm surprised Peggy Noonan made the list but Joe didn't. I suppose the reason is that Morning Joe is just a TV show of no significance.

Joe's friends (and let's be real, what powerful white man isn't Joe's friend?) who own the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. have to face severe backlash for raising ticket prices in Liverpool from £55 to £77. Which is like $76 to $118 or so. Yesterday at the 77th minute of the match vs Sunderland, about 1/3 of the fans got up and walked out of the stadium. This had never happened before in the history of the club. Liverpool was up 2-0 and wound up drawing 2-2 after the walk out. Fans are very angry and not willing to pay more. I suppose $118 a ticket is daily snack money to a man of Joe's wealth and importance. I wonder if he'll comment. And I wonder what his take will be. After all, he's all about capitalism and big business grinding the little man under the heel. On the other hand, he's a self described man of the people. He must be in such conflict!

Donnie's jacket was fine, but it was the matching vest and the pink shirt underneath that ruined it all. I didn't even hear anything he said. I just stared at him and wondered why his clothes just weren't working.

Made me laugh. I've fought the urge to post my personal political viewpoints on particular candidates as I know it'll piss off some of you, and i don't want that. Per Wall Street, how does Joe combine his spittle-flecked, neck-vein viewpoints condemning Hillary for being smart enough to earn a fortune by speaking at times to a conference affiliated with "Wall Street," with Donald Trump actually, literally being in business with all those Wall Street firms and actually, literally owning a fucking chunk of actual, literal Wall Street that HOUSES some of those firms? Nobody has commented on this? Trump is a player who can manipulate players. Hero. Hillary Clinton is a player who can manipulate players. Harridan. Shrew. Harpie. Bitch. Sellout. Liar. Ok.

Kornacki was on the show until 6:50am. He looked like he felt hunted. Until he started nerding out on his political knowledge, which is immense.

Pretty thin case made from a very biased source... http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/03/3745884/morning-joe-sexist-hillary-discussion/ a better case could have been made easily that Morning Joe is wildly biased against Hillary Clinton for many many reasons, and sexism is just a part of it. Know your value, Mika and Joe.