Landsnark

The way to know Joe Scarborough is filled to the brim with shit on his reaction to the torture report is to merely point to his numerous attacks on Nancy Pelosi for her criticism of torture in the intervening 10+ years. My Senate representative Tim Scott just said that "the vast majority of Americans want Obamacare repealed." That's real news. Then even dingbat Mika heard Tim Scott say "I'm saying torture is wrong. But given the time and place and context... blah blah" and she looked at him smugly and said "so it's wrong until it's not wrong?" Then he puked an embarrassing word salad until she interrupted him and threw it to commercial. That idiot is a Senator.

I don't know who Joe's sources are in the CIA? Perhaps Stan Smith from "Family Guy?" I don't know. You saw how Joe will deal with the topic of torture this morning. "The Dems wanted it too." Take that talking point to the bank. Slam a cup of coffee every time you hear it. DRINK!

This show, and perhaps most media professionals I suppose, frustrate the hell out of me. Nobody is observing this properly. Joe condemns the Rams players for doing exactly the same thing Lebron did. Joe praises Lebron for supporting protests against the lack of a trial, is literally spitting mad at Rams players for supporting protests against the lack of a trial. Joe, Cackles and that idiot Barnicle sit around solemnly praising the protests. I mean... WHAT? Praising the protests? THEY ARE PROTESTS you fucking idiots. PROTESTS! Not parties. Not parades. They are protesting ANOTHER death of a black man at the hands of law enforcement that will not be adjudicated. THAT is the point of this. But no, they are observing the wrong thing incorrectly, shifting the narrative and avoiding what's important and difficult. They get to grade the protest, and that grade somehow lends either credence to the dead black man (he didn't deserve it) or passes judgment on the dead black man (he was a thug, he had it coming.) So the media's reaction to the nature of the protest defines the narrative re: systematic, lethal racism within our nation's law enforcement structures? Did Joe just blame Democrats in 2002 for supporting waterboarding, talking over a Senator and fucking inventing a lie??? Why am I watching this???

I watched for a long while today, but didn't catch the beginning of their discussion on Garner's murder. Joe occupied the space 180' from his positions on Monday and Tuesday. He was calm, measured, thoughtful and parrotted Eugene's points and the other fella's points from yesterday about injustice for blacks in America. Is he trolling us? Was he scolded? Was he embarrassed from all the across-the-spectrum media blowback at him? Did he apologize for his ranting and bluster? He has to account for the inconsistent about-face, right?

Another editorial comment written to Joe... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-ann-mitchell/an-open-letter-to-joe-sca_b_6255772.html

The twitterverse and attached media are absolutely thick with stories written about Scarborough and comments. This has been a huge success for him. He's cementing his pro-establishment, hard right wing bona fides by toting the party line on the opponent's network. He's set the little world of online political media coverage on fire for a few news cycles. I'm sure that the brass at MSNBC is hoping that this creates friction between shows so that viewers will tune in to watch rebuttals by Hayes and Maddow and the two folks on the weekend AM shows. Tagline: It's cynical, it's dishonest, it's loud, it's Joe Scarborough!

Bloviatin' Joe made the home page of Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/morning-joe-ferguson-rant-hands-in-the-air-video-144216477.html I caution you not to get drawn into the comments. My God.

Joe's ranting is theater. He doesn't believe one sliver of the shit he's spewing. He's showing the world what a great extemporaneous sales person he thinks he is. He's using right wing bullet points as a framework and weaving in old white guy outrage to bait viewers and social media. It's done for ratings. This was surely well considered over the Thanksgiving break w/producers and the MSNBC brass. This is NOT a conversation about race, by the way. It is a conversation about race baiting on the right, and a conversation about poverty and civics. Riots occur in a culture as a matter of mathematics. It's an algorithm. As dependable as any equation. When a group unfairly loses power or comes to recognize their powerlessness, and their "betters" do not have their best interests at heart, and their police and law makers and representatives aren't like them, don't work for them, and don't think of them... then you get riots. When there is no justice, or perception of justice, then there will be unrest. It doesn't matter what the race of the person is, and to think otherwise is as vulgarly racist as is possible. An honest discussion would be about the reaction to the riots, what's being done to quell unrest, and the conclusions media outlets are drawing about race, poverty and power. Not whether or not rioting is "right" or "wrong." That's ideological mumbo jumbo.

This is funny: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/morning-joe-jeremy-peters-flee-set-msnbc_n_6255186.html

I only caught a few seconds at the end of their last segment about light sabres, and her visible anger and disgust over the topic is... well I don't know. Repellant? Off-putting? Tone deaf? Asinine? Immature? You know who she is, speaking of "cartoonish upper crust snobbery?" She's the Margaret Dumont of the show.

I hope they devote at least one segment per hour to the GOP staffer Lauten who slurred the POTUS' children, and I hope they have Cackles aboard. Cackles won't be able to resist supporting Lauten.

When Eugene Robinson is a guest and lists his and his son's many driving-while-black stops by police, Joe sits mum. I just read that Willie was fired from NBC along with Natalie Morales, but the GM who fired them left before the firing was official? NBC sure has odd ideas on what does and does not work or constitute fulfilling entertainment. They'd consider firing Geist, but not Mika? Insanity. I have to presume that they simply do not watch "Morning Joe," or, they honestly don't care about "Morning Joe's" ratings, content or quality.

Her books have had some moderate success: Obsessed: America's Food Addiction--and My Own Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #48 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth Paperback – April 3, 2012 Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #32 in Books > Business & Money > Women & Business All Things at Once by Mika Brzezinski (Nov 30, 2010) Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,325,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Sorry Oakville, Mark Sanford is my Representative in Congress. And he's running unopposed now for a 2nd term. "Forget it Jake, it's South Carolina," to perfectly misquote Robert Towne. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-mark-sanfords-pathetic-saga-with-himself/2014/09/16/27d090a0-3dd1-11e4-b0ea-8141703bbf6f_story.html

Ebola is a PERFECT topic pre-midterms for the right wing. It's ideal. Anything the CDC does can be refuted with vein-popping bluster. Sense or science or truth have no place in the face of political expediency via paranoia... - Quarantines are necessary on an as-necessary basis with science leading the way -- Perfect! Obama (why Obama is responsible, is an unecessary detail) hates you, America. He doesn't care if you get sick. He wants you to get sick because something something Muslims and borders something something National Guard something something civil liberties something something martial law. - Quarantines are mandatory, better to be safe than sorry -- Perfect! Obama hates you, America. He doesn't want you to have freedom. He is responsible for the outbreak because something something Muslims and borders something something National Guard something something civil liberties something something martial law.

Can someone explain this Mika arc where she's chosen to be pitted against the former head of the Secret Service? Is Mika claiming they hired a woman merely because she's a woman? Does Mika know this as a fact? Was the former chief unqualified? She appeared to be incompetent, but given what is being revealed about Homeland Security, efficiency or effectiveness may not be possible.

Little Lord Luke made a cameo tonight on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption." He apparently was an intern there previously. There is something disagreeable about him.

Stafford, I'm guessing you live in the DC suburbs? Even Stafford? (Where I'm from) Traffic in that region is... I don't know how to describe it with the proper hyperbole. Crazy? Inhuman? Thoroughly sad? Perhaps you're a yogi and you can handle traffic with a deep, still aplomb? I moved to escape it. I watched Mika's mom insult her. It affects Mika. I wonder if Roger Goodell should suspend Mika's mom? Since he's the new Sheriff Of America and all moral and ethical matters are his new responsibility.

WHAT? Seriously, this made me laugh out loud and wipe a tear away. Bless your heart. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbc-panel-erupts-when-roland-martin-asks-double-standard-on-female-abuse-charges/ What a D Bag. The vast majority of male-reported domestic abuse occurences are male-on-male. Hope Solo's assault was assault, and not co-habitive domestic abuse... which is so rare as to be an anomoly. He would have women's sporting teams be vigilant against women beating up their husbands and demand that they are banned from playing their games until the legal process is adjudicated? Wow, he really plays in the lower portion of the nastiest sewers of public discourse. Ugh. Why was this disingenuous dirt bag on a real network?? "Who is going to look out for men in matters of domestic violence?" Really? American males are disenfranchised and have no voice in our culture and legal system? Woe is us!! Real straw man arguments are embarrassed by his straw man argument. Katty should've slapped the shit out his mouth!

Cackles strikes... https://tv.yahoo.com/news/views-conservative-co-host-nicolle-wallace-fuels-first-193200166.html It's totally off topic, but I couldn't resist laughing at her nonsense that we're so familiar with. "Obama hates people." I think the truer comment is that Cackles and that ghoul Krauthammer hate Obama. That's the correct way to work that equation.

So Cackles is really and truly now a full-time member of The View? https://tv.yahoo.com/news/views-co-host-nicole-wallace-meeting-sarah-palin-211200745.html The first thing she does on the show is distance herself from Palin and the Bush Administration, BUT, those are her only two career accomplishments. Should be modestly interesting to see how long her vapid talking-points schtick lasts. When they won't be able to get Palin on the panel to confront Cackles, they'll surely tire of her, as she's wholly unlikable. I put the over/under at 18 months. Because Cackles also has to know that this is not good for her "legitimate" "political" "career." So she may stay until something more... I don't know, inside-the-beltway comes available. I'm glad she's gone. But I hope they don't offset her absence by bringing in David Gregory (is he still an NBC employee??), Peggy Noonan* (shudder), Dan Senor or Campbell Brown. *Ever seen "Young Frankenstein? Remember when anyone says "Frau Blucher" and the horses whinny? I feel as if MSNBC should use that sound effect whenever her name is used. Hilarious.

Wow, I've had it with the popular media and sports media grandstanding their moral sanctimony and righteous indignation over Ray Rice and Roger Goodell. Why would a sponsor cease working with the most successful sport in the Western Hemisphere? What does Ray Rice's 1 punch, and SUBSEQUENT STRING OF PUNISHMENTS, have to do with corporate business, let alone anything else? Would Google shut down because an employee punched his/her spouse, ONCE, and then pledged to be an advocate and go through counseling? Should the CEO be fired? Yes? No? (FWIW, Google makes far more money than the NFL and has far more employees and therefore far more instances of spousal abuse) Rice admitted he punched her to the commissioner. She admitted to the commissioner he punched her. The commissioner suspended him two games immediately WITH NO LEGAL CONVICTION from the courts of NJ. Two game checks would roughly cost Ray Rice and his family $800,000. This is with no conviction of abuse in the courts, no history of abuse, and his wife pleading for the matter to disappear. Ray Rice WAS PUNISHED IMMEDIATELY. Ok? When the commissioner heard the blow back from the public because of their outrage over how ugly an incident it was outside of the elevator (see, because the public could see it, they now feel they are involved and can sanctimoniously demand blood), Goodell admitted he was wrong in his punishment and put in place a one-strike policy that would be an immediate 6 game suspension, with the possibility of a full season or lifetime bans left to the arbiter's discretion, also mandatory counseling and other programs. Never existed before, this commissioner who "needs to be fired", put it in place. So, he's demonstrated flexibility, foresight, and, admitted he was wrong! Fire him! Boycott! I'm mad! AAARRRRR! So, when the video of the punch came to light, dug up by the salacious media industry, what was already known to all parties - Ray Rice punched his wife - became visible. And now the public is demanding MORE blood. Not from Ray Rice, though. Odd, but is standard cable/internet misdirected faux righteous outrage... simple solutions by simple minds for an extraordinarily complex problem. So apparently now, the NFL, like no other business, was built NOT around the business they conduct, but instead to handle moral and ethical miscues and have complex punishments at the ready because the NFL's only job, ya see, is to be the moral and ethical arbiter of the United States of America. For some reason. One year ago Roger Goodell suspended the New Orleans Saints': head coach, defensive coordinator, and at least 2 defensive players for a full year. With no convincing evidence. If Goodell is in the pocket of owners and is conspiring to sweep things under the rug, why did he intentionally doom the N.O. Saints to a poor season that conceivably cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to that franchise? Joe believes that Goodell is protecting Ray Rice (despite suspending him for a f'ing year) in order to protect the NFL's image, yet, last year he hamstrung an entire franchise's season with NO evidence? The punishment and policy is now in place. It wasn't 3 weeks ago, but is now. If it had been put in place 6 weeks ago, then would Mika still be shrilly demanding the NFL be defunded? No? Why not? Because there were 3 intervening weeks? Heh. Ok. Seems like the shrill and outraged should be thanking Goodell for changing the policy and taking steps to (presumably) prevent further domestic abuse. Which, if examined, is asinine. Because the NFL cannot prevent domestic abuse. It can only remove the abuser from the public eye and from the NFL's own legal liabilities. And that apparently is all that the American viewing public cares about.

Bob Woodward is a dick. He looks old and confused this morning. He just blamed Obama's "muscular stance" vs ISIS as the reason that people want to join ISIS. It's Obama's fault. He calls it "the degree of diffuclty that Obama has bought himself." Like those words mean anything. So, Bob, to mention ISIS is to lose? Ergo Obama lost because he has too strong rhetoric? Ok. That's literally a brand new slam against him re: ISIS. Then 4 words later, he calls Obama "the reluctant warrior." As if that makes any sense. Just throw what ever shit at the wall to see what sticks, old man. Embarrassing.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-12-worst-shows-on-cable-news-2/

I just caught a moment of a segment before a break, and it appeared to have been about a 9 year old girl who shot her shooting range instructor to death in Arizona, with an Uzi. Joe bravely said that there are paranoid maniacs in this country and we have to stop being led by their agendas.. that the extremist paranoiacs "on the left and on the right," need to stop setting our agenda, bla bla blah... I get he's trying to be measured and blame everybody for the extremist right wing's gun culture so he doesn't seem partisan for some reason, but I'd love to know what a paranoid left winger looks like? A militiaman? Nope. Racist? Nope. Armed anti-gubmint the-drones-are-gonna-steal-our-precious-fluids loon? Nope. I'm genuinely curious as to what he means by paranoid progressive, which very well may be an oxymoron. And, I'm eager to hear how extreme left wingers are defining the nation's agenda.