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Small Talk: Cup O' Joe


Dagny
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Please remember that the Small Talk thread does not allow for the conversations that violate the Primetimer Politics Rule.

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3 hours ago, izabella said:

I wonder if Joe, Heileman, and all the others opining about their stellar VIP private insurance plans have ever read a single word of Warren's or anyone's Medicare for All plans.  Or perused the NIH plan which has home visits for new mothers and elderly and disabled care.  Or seen that people pay nothing for surgeries and cancer care instead of paying the 10% or 20% or 30% that insurance doesn't cover even after premiums, deductibles and copays.  Or looked at how little the Brits pay for drugs, a few dollars.  Or that it's not tied to your job.

If they actually read the plans or studied other nation's plans, they'd see that they are actually better than what even their VIP private insurance offers, which they lose, of course, if they lose their jobs.  I wish they would actually talk about the specifics of the plans instead of just dismissing them outright as being bad for people with great private insurance.

Around 5 years ago I had a $300,000 hospital bill. I had no co-pay/my insurance paid for everything. 
 

I only have to pay for doctors visits which is $20-25, and meds which are $10 each. 

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My weekly coffee group met today.  One member is 101 (!), one is 88 and the rest are in their 70s.  We have been meeting for years; some have burned our bras, marched for civil rights (one member had a cross burned on her lawn), been active in anti-war protests, etc.  What I am trying to say is that we aren't a bunch of "old" ladies.  Well, maybe raucous at times.

Over the years we have...knocked on doors canvassing for local candidates, worked the polls and "stood in the rain" registering voters.  One or two do not watch a lot of tv; a couple are couch potatoes; and we are all news junkies.  So.  The reason for this post...

When one friend plopped down this morning, the first words out of her mouth were "I am so tired of the usual guests on Morning Joe, saying the same things, day after day" --- you get the gist.  This particular friend is one of the ones who doesn't watch a lot of the morning news shows. So if even SHE is tired of the same old same old....you know it is bad.

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18 hours ago, Kemper said:

My weekly coffee group met today.

Kemper my friend, please hope I never find out where you live as I would be on your doorstep in a heartbeat to join your lively and informed group.  Bravo on all of you!

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Mr. Kemper and I watched the concert yesterday on MSNBC; or a good bit of it, anyway.  It did make us feel old when I did not know who a good many of the performers were.  It was fun and beats our usual PBS Mysteries on Saturday nights.

The MSNBC personnel that were front and center were Ari Melbar, Joy Reed, Stephanie Ruhle (loved her dancing and loosey-goosey-ness), Jacob Soboroff (sp?) along with his great hair and a young woman who I have never seen before.  So.  This concert would appear to have been a big deal - where were Joe and his band?  How could Joe pass up this opportunity?  He could have played along with Brian May and sang along with Adam Lambert.  He is well-known for his music! He knows people in high places! Having him perform would give credence to the entire environmental effort! He could lead on this!  Meeka could have shaken a tambourine and wore her best frayed jeans and cool sneakers!  Winning.

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15 hours ago, Kemper said:

Mr. Kemper and I watched the concert yesterday on MSNBC; or a good bit of it, anyway.  It did make us feel old when I did not know who a good many of the performers were.  It was fun and beats our usual PBS Mysteries on Saturday nights.

I had it on for a second but I wasn't interested in the performers. 

In 2017 they had Stevie Wonder who was fantastic, and then luckily turned it back on just as Green Day took the stage, and did several songs from American Idiot, and the encore ended with " Good Riddance" (Time of Your Life). 

Now THAT'S a concert.  

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3 minutes ago, Kemper said:

Showing my age, but I so wanted to see Queen with Adam Lambert...of course they were on last - but didn’t disappoint. I also enjoyed Carole King. So, we were in and out with it.

Oh no, I didn't know Queen with Adam Lambert was going to be on!  Goodness I have to go look for the video, one of my fave raves!  ❤️

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For those that missed the Global Citizen Festival most of the music performances are posted their YouTube account. The only ones not posted are Alicia Keys which is weird. I'm having trouble embedding links into the actual posts so I'll post that YT link below. Queen with Adam Lambert performed about 11 songs which kind of shocked me. I loved it though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/GlobalPovertyProject/videos

Edited by Jaded
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I happened to have All In on last night when Chris did this segment. It gave me chills. It was SO powerful and I had wondered if anyone at either NBC or MSNBC would have the courage to stand up to Lack & Oppenheim. 

Chris is getting tons of great praise on Twitter for it, Bradley Whitford, who is currently on an NBC show and of course was on one of the most popular NBC shows EVER.  

Word on the street is Lack hates Chris Hayes and his show.  I wish Comcast would fire both him and Oppenheim and just clean house. No more Brokaw, tell Joe & Mika if they even walk down the same side of the street as Mark Halperin their contracts are torn up. 

Fuck these assholes. 

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2 hours ago, teddysmom said:

I happened to have All In on last night when Chris did this segment.

I saw it, too, and I didn't know if anyone else at NBC or MSNBC had even addressed the issue on the air.  And wondered how long Chris would get to keep his show.  Not even Queen Rachel, who was all over the Weinstein story, has said boo about the NBC scandal.

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On 10/15/2019 at 12:12 PM, meowmommy said:

I saw it, too, and I didn't know if anyone else at NBC or MSNBC had even addressed the issue on the air.  And wondered how long Chris would get to keep his show.  Not even Queen Rachel, who was all over the Weinstein story, has said boo about the NBC scandal.

Mika & Joe have not mentioned any of the NBC scandals. Joe has strongly recommended that men get their victims to sign non disclosure agreements to avoid any career ending repercussons.

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I couldn't think of anywhere else to put this but I had a "brush with greatness" last Saturday.  No, not Joe or Ms. KYV.  I was in St. Louis last weekend visiting my goddaughter, who goes to college there, and at the last minute got some tickets to the National League Division Series game because we're from the DC area and she loves the Nats.  As we were leaving at the bottom of the 8th (Nats were winning and we didn't want to stay for a Cardinals comeback - which we didn't have to worry about, HA!) I saw Michael Avenatti in the stands!  He noticed me recognize him and nodded, so I went over and shook his hand.  He asked my name and I asked if he was from St. Louis (he is) and then I flashed my Nats t-shirt at him.  He was friendly and said we played well and that was that.  His eyes are very blue and he's not as short as I thought he was, though he's definitely not tall.  

My goddaughter said "who was that?"  Me: Michael Avenatti.  Her: WHO????  LOL!  When I said Stormy Daniels' lawyer, she at least had heard of her.  She thought I'd just run into a friend 🙂

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With all the rain coming down on NBC and MSNBC due to Ronan Farrow's book...it makes me wonder.  About Meeka and her KYV.  I'll bet the network will really push this ... it makes them look like they are doing something.  And if the shameless self-promoting wife of one of their "Stars" benefits - then all the better.  Before you know it, Meeka and her KYV could be the face of the network.  

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37 minutes ago, Kemper said:

With all the rain coming down on NBC and MSNBC due to Ronan Farrow's book...it makes me wonder.  About Meeka and her KYV.  I'll bet the network will really push this ... it makes them look like they are doing something.  And if the shameless self-promoting wife of one of their "Stars" benefits - then all the better.  Before you know it, Meeka and her KYV could be the face of the network.  

Mika & Joe have not invited Ronan Farrow to be on the show. I think it would be an awkward show.

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On 10/19/2019 at 2:39 PM, oakville said:

Mika & Joe have not invited Ronan Farrow to be on the show. I think it would be an awkward show.

I find this really interesting, because Ronan Farrow used to be on their show ALL the time. They used to refer to him as their "adopted son", there were even photos from a Vanity Fair party where they were like cuddling up to him. Part of me wonders if their possibly long-term affair was one of the secrets Weinstein was threatening the network with. I feel this continuously with everything that's happening in both media and politics - the word "blackmail" always seems so wacky and conspiratorial but I suspect in the future it's going to figure hugely in our understanding of this historical moment, in so many ways.

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18 hours ago, neona said:

I find this really interesting, because Ronan Farrow used to be on their show ALL the time. They used to refer to him as their "adopted son", there were even photos from a Vanity Fair party where they were like cuddling up to him. Part of me wonders if their possibly long-term affair was one of the secrets Weinstein was threatening the network with. I feel this continuously with everything that's happening in both media and politics - the word "blackmail" always seems so wacky and conspiratorial but I suspect in the future it's going to figure hugely in our understanding of this historical moment, in so many ways.

I don't know that it would be safe for Ronan Farrow to enter 30 Rock at this point. 

He was living in a safe house at one point during the Weinstein investigation/reporting, and had placed documents in a safe deposit box with instructions "if something happens to me..."

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1 hour ago, XOQueens said:

I can't imagine what it must be like to work for NBC right now . . . ick.

I'm 63 and know (luckily not first hand) about abuse but it was there looking back.  The fact that NBC is still pretending that everything is fine is totally beyond me and then extending the contract of someone who clearly knew about this awful abuse . . . . awful, just awful.

So gross.

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Someone needs to come in and clean house; someone with no ties to anyone and no ax to grind.  I wonder what Robert Mueller is doing these days?

Seriously...it boggles my mind with the self-promotion of the on-air talent.  Chris Matthews and a couple of others with books out - constantly taking up airtime on all the shows to flog their books and projects.  I dread Joe's upcoming book ... it will be non-stop.

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I have a theory about all this and I call it the "Great Man Theory", which is probably plagiarized/appropriated from somewhere... BUT... I think the reason Joe, Brian Williams, Mike Barnicle etc are able to get away with so much nonsense is that the head of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, and the head of NBC Andy Lack, see themselves as Great Men, in the Ancient Homeric Epic, Founding Fathers Sense where their oversight, direction and wisdom is solely responsible for the success of the company. And this sense of mastery trickles down - Joe Scarborough, being a Great Man, must be the Sole Reason for the success of Morning Joe, in the same way Andy Lack, by the force of his Personality, must be the Sole Reason of the success of NBC Universal.

All these men see themselves reflected in each other. We could all shout at the top of our lungs that we watch because of the panelists, but it wouldn't register - for Andy Lack to acknowledge that Joe Scarborough is not the one, ephemeral, indispensable ingredient of Morning Joe is to admit that he himself is not the one, ephemeral, indispensable key to the success of NBC. It's a Racket of Perceived Male Heroism and Uniqueness. It's the reason Matt Lauer was given god-like status. All these men believe themselves to be imbued with this supernatural quality and are therefore inclined to believe the same force is invested in other "great men" down the foodchain.

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7 hours ago, suomi said:

From this point forward, or retroactively as well? 

OK, from what I picked up tonight in a few places it pertains only to former employees who signed NDAs as part of closing out their employment. (Anyone, please correct me if that's wrong. TIA

There's a paragraph in Ronan's book where Weinstein, appealing for Andy Lack to help a bro out, repeatedly mentioned "It was the '90s" but Lack wasn't biting. After the third '90s reference and a "We all did it" for good measure - there was a long silence and then Lack said "I'll look into it."

Am I the only one who gets a little tingle up the leg from wondering whether there might be NDAs containing Joey's name? Just me, huh? OK.

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On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 3:41 AM, suomi said:

OK, from what I picked up tonight in a few places it pertains only to former employees who signed NDAs as part of closing out their employment. (Anyone, please correct me if that's wrong. TIA

There's a paragraph in Ronan's book where Weinstein, appealing for Andy Lack to help a bro out, repeatedly mentioned "It was the '90s" but Lack wasn't biting. After the third '90s reference and a "We all did it" for good measure - there was a long silence and then Lack said "I'll look into it."

Am I the only one who gets a little tingle up the leg from wondering whether there might be NDAs containing Joey's name? Just me, huh? OK.

Suomi my friend, I wonder if this is why the Scarborough's are so glum this morning.  Maybe the lucrative jig is up as it wouldn't surprise me at all that Joe would engage in this type of behavior.  It would explain why Meeks was pulling on her sleeves/binky as she has been known to do when she's stressed out/has the sadz.

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1 hour ago, Chloesmom said:
On 10/26/2019 at 4:41 AM, suomi said:

K, from what I picked up tonight in a few places it pertains only to former employees who signed NDAs as part of closing out their employment. (Anyone, please correct me if that's wrong. TIA

There's a paragraph in Ronan's book where Weinstein, appealing for Andy Lack to help a bro out, repeatedly mentioned "It was the '90s" but Lack wasn't biting. After the third '90s reference and a "We all did it" for good measure - there was a long silence and then Lack said "I'll look into it."

Am I the only one who gets a little tingle up the leg from wondering whether there might be NDAs containing Joey's name? Just me, huh? OK.

Suomi my friend, I wonder if this is why the Scarborough's are so glum this morning.  Maybe the lucrative jig is up as it wouldn't surprise me at all that Joe would engage in this type of behavior.  It would explain why Meeks was pulling on her sleeves/binky as she has been known to do when she's stressed out/has the sadz.

The thought crossed my mind this weekend.

Linda Vester (Brokaw accuser and Mika the Street Fighter #1 Foe) published an op ed in The Daily Beast, I believe, stating that everyone should calm down. That NBC will have all kinds of ways to "release" the women from the agreement, but still restrict some of what they can say. 

But yeah I do wonder if someone complained about Joe.  

I kind of took the whole "don't boo the President " bullshit this morning as a distraction device. 

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On 10/28/2019 at 11:11 AM, Chloesmom said:

Suomi my friend, I wonder if this is why the Scarborough's are so glum this morning.  Maybe the lucrative jig is up as it wouldn't surprise me at all that Joe would engage in this type of behavior.  It would explain why Meeks was pulling on her sleeves/binky as she has been known to do when she's stressed out/has the sadz.

Meh. To be honest, I don't think so. Pretty sure the drama w/ Mika was more than enough to keep him occupied for the past few years. As much as he annoys me with his grandstanding and bloviating he doesn't strike me as the coercive, abusive type. A serial monogamist, certainly, an insufferable know-it-all, definitely, but not a creep. Maybe I'm naive, but I'm just not getting that vibe. Is it just me?

Although of course, if the metoo movement has taught us anything, it's that no one knows nothing, so I'm certainly open to changing my mind if there's evidence to indicate otherwise. 

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4 hours ago, xaxat said:

I skipped an election for the first time in over a decade.

So, of course, one of the local races is too close to call. 

You know you won't make that mistake next year!

We didn't have a local election yesterday.  That didn't stop fucking Facebook from cheerily reminding me to go vote...in another town's election.  If you're gonna steal and monetize my data, at least get the damn data right.

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I found the conversation about language learning for immigrants very interesting, and I have a few thoughts to add here:

First of all, there should be an understanding that learning a language is very difficult, especially for older people. However, I do think that immigrants to a country should make an attempt to learn at least a little of the language of their new country. More than anything, this benefits the immigrant. Obviously, for older people, attaining anything close to fluency will likely not be possible, but a little understanding of a language is better than nothing. Also, I feel like resources should be made available to help immigrants learn English. 
 

A few years ago during the refugee influx to Europe, I read that one of the conditions for the refugees getting asylum in Germany was for them to take German lessons. I don’t think this is unreasonable. 
 

At the same time, I feel like Americans should work a lot harder at trying to learn a second language. Here, I am putting my money where my mouth is, because I am working very hard to learn French ( in fact, I am often working on my French while watching Morning Joe). This has given me a great appreciation for how hard it is to learn a foreign language.

Finally (and this is a pet peeve of mine), I think all US schools should teach kids A foreign language starting in Kindergarten (while kids still have the ability to easily learn a language). It makes no sense to me to start teaching foreign languages to kids at an age where they have lost a lot of their language learning ability. 
 

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I was a school librarian; the ESL class was in a room right next to ours.  The school was built in the "open concept" of the maybe early 70's; not many walls, just partitions.  They had pep rallies in the library!  We were the "hub" of the wheel while classrooms with maybe 6' high partitions surrounded us.  It is amazing to me how anyone could learn under those conditions.  I digress.

The ESL teacher was grateful to the library staff for being so "nice" to him and his students. They would have potlucks regularly, bringing in food from their native countries; we were always invited.  On these days their parents would come in if they were able.  Their kids were learning to speak our language, most of them pretty fluently.  Their parents were proud but kind of lost; between working and raising their children - there was little time for them to learn to speak English.  Language can divide us, as political leaders and candidates have figured out... all too well.

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45 minutes ago, Kemper said:

I was a school librarian; the ESL class was in a room right next to ours.  The school was built in the "open concept" of the maybe early 70's; not many walls, just partitions.  They had pep rallies in the library!  We were the "hub" of the wheel while classrooms with maybe 6' high partitions surrounded us.  It is amazing to me how anyone could learn under those conditions.

Was this a university school or Montessori? When I was a kid in the seventies my parents were deciding where I should attend. We visited the local U school and it had a layout just like you described. As a kid, I thought it was awesome. My parents took one look and decided "Nope, public school for you."

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I envy your experience, Kemper. It's gotta be uplifting to share in an atmosphere like that. Thinking about the kids makes me smile - but I hurt for the parents who perhaps do not truly feel like they're a part of things. 

There are 92 languages (and numerous dialects) spoken in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I have no idea how well they do but they certainly have their work cut out for them, don't they?(Obviously that is one of the largest districts in the US). But even in small towns, this is a big problem that gets bigger every year and it needs to be figured out, for the sake of the kids AND their families.

I have an assimilation story and I'm sorry that it's so dang long but it what it is. 

My Finnish grandparents are a good example of how easily things go wrong and could be done better. My Grampa could get by in Swedish but rarely spoke anything except Finnish when he worked in the iron ore mines. He decided to tackle English when he started hearing about other jobs. After a couple years he taught himself enough English to apply for county jobs and he went on to spend many years as the county road commissioner.

Gramma, meanwhile, was at home on the farm raising (eventually) 12 kids. She didn't have the slightest interest in learning English so, to sustain her comfort level, only Finnish was spoken on the farm. Even the animals spoke Finnish, which still cracks me up.

None of the kids learned English until they started school when they were 6. Gramma became more and more isolated as each kid in their turn began speaking English and I think that greatly contributed to an emotional and mental breakdown from which she never, IMO, fully recovered.

She was "sent away" for a couple years until she "got better" (neighbors did what they could in her absence) and then it was back to childbirth every 16 months and a houseful of people she gave birth to who no longer primarily spoke her language. 

I think speaking English, as a family, one night a week, would have helped everyone. Then maybe two nights a week, then maybe three. Ooh, live dangerously and allow the 2, 4 and 5-year-olds to become bilingual! I think she would have been less afraid of English and more willing to try if she heard it all around her in her home. But, no.

I think one of the biggest causes of her breakdown was that all of her kids surpassed her (or "deserted" her). As adults, each one admitted to many years of being ashamed of their mother who went around town needing a translator. It was a company town so the company stores made sure to hire Finnish, Italian and Swedish teens who could translate when "they" came in to shop.

When my dad was in his 90s he talked about (and greatly regretted) being ashamed of his mother when she came to town. He was OK with translating for other people's mothers but not his own mother. He cried like a baby, which was not easy to watch. I found all of that incredibly sad and then I felt angry because a lot of it could so easily have been prevented.

Admittedly, this is a small sample and people don't live in company towns anymore but that's why I have a "thing" about immigrants learning to speak English.

Fourteen people were scarred and sad for life and it didn't have to be that way. That's the big picture.

I think stories like this are still happening. I also think there is even more pressure to fit in now than there was in the 1920s-1930s. I do know that I always make the effort and try never to miss an opportunity to say "Your English is so good! Don't listen to anyone who says that it isn't. Americans are so lazy - we can barely speak English! I'm jealous that you can speak two languages." If they say "I speak three (or four!) languages" I say "Stop, you're killin' me here" and we laugh. They walk away looking proud and happy and that makes me feel good. I'm a ripple on a pond, baby, or I at least try to be.

PS: Here's how Americans look to the rest of the world: when my dad took my stepmom to Finland she was bewildered when the cats, dogs and cows would not "answer" her. Picture a cheerful and plucky Erma Bombeck lookalike gamely dealing with a language barrier in the cow barn. She was the talk of the village, everyone knew who she was. 

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I am in agreement that Americans should study another language. It enriches your life so much.  I think every kid should do 3-5 years at school.

I studied in Germany as an exchange student for a year in high school.  I was required to attend an intensive two- month immersion program where we only spoke German.  It really helped get me going in a foreign language.  The other thing that really helped me was watching German television and American shows dubbed in German.  After a while of hearing a foreign language exclusively, your mind changes and you start to randomly recognize words and use them in your speech. 

I have also traveled to Japan numerous times , and I always try to learn new words and phrases for every trip.  Most people appreciate the effort, even if every word you say is not perfect.   

Edited by nittanycougar
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I was reading an article about popular baby names for 2020. #3 caught my eye:

Top Girl Names 2020

Our top girl names for 2020 feature several choices that feel familiar, yet contain some element that’s new. The Top 10 girl names, in order of popularity, are:

3. Mika – Journalist Mika Brzezinski undoubtedly had some influence on the popularization of her name, pronounced mee-ka, but it’s also a new Michael feminization, taking over from the now-flagging Mikayla and cousins.

Just think of all those little girls who will be born Knowing Their Value!

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Three years ago ago I bought a house and soon realized that the previous owners had abandoned six cats (a mother and her five teenagers). Those bastards (the humans) had declared the cats as feral so they would qualify for free spay and neuter. They each had one ear tipped to identify them as altered ferals and the tipped ear makes them ineligible for adoption or surrender. Lovely, right? There's only one survivor at this point and I found a home for him just last night. (I'm moving in a couple weeks and can"t bring him with because the winters are too harsh, waaay below zero). Two of the six were killed by cars and three disappeared over time. Anyway, I chose Mika as the name for the very dainty and girly one and she is one of the disappeareds. 😞

None of the boys were named Joe. 🙂

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On 11/8/2019 at 8:02 AM, Jordan Baker said:

I was reading an article about popular baby names for 2020. #3 caught my eye:

Top Girl Names 2020

Our top girl names for 2020 feature several choices that feel familiar, yet contain some element that’s new. The Top 10 girl names, in order of popularity, are:

3. Mika – Journalist Mika Brzezinski undoubtedly had some influence on the popularization of her name, pronounced mee-ka, but it’s also a new Michael feminization, taking over from the now-flagging Mikayla and cousins.

Just think of all those little girls who will be born Knowing Their Value!

I saw this, too, and was shaking my head. It makes no sense to give your baby this name if you are not Eastern European.  I don't understand this trend of naming your kid from TV shows.

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Quote

Mika – Journalist Mika Brzezinski undoubtedly had some influence on the popularization of her name, pronounced mee-ka,

I doubt it. First of all, Mika is not that famous. She's the co-host of a show that has a relatively small audience. She can't even get her name on the show much less a bunch of kids.

Secondly the audience for the show is relatively old compared to couples starting families. I think her viewership is more likely to be moving into the empty nest stage than welcoming kids into the world.

ETA Yesterday I was listening to a podcast hosted by Axios writer Felix Salmon. They were discussing the issue of consensual sex in the workplace, an action that recently led to the firing of McDonalds' CEO. At one point Felix said "But what about Joe and Mike-ah?" and I just laughed. 

Edited by xaxat
Edited because it looked like I was quoting Jordan Baker and not the article.
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