Holy crap! I almost ran right off my treadmill reading this. EXCEPTIONAL work👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I particularly enjoyed the fact that just as I was thinking about rebuttals to paragraphs, you then provided those rebuttals. Also, huge props for working “Elagabalus” in! Can’t wait for next installment.
Their ravings sound like the products of the stupidest ever late-night dorm room discussions. How is it possible for anyone to take these people seriously?
6 corporations own the “mainstream media” (ABC, CBS, NBC/MSNBC, Fox). At least this is a possible explanation for why so many people take a certain narrative seriously; repeated over and over until the lie/every manifestation of the lie is believed. And then, of course, there’s so called social media, the mainstream of which is also owned.
To your point: Sometimes I wonder if certain pop songs were played ad nauseum in the hope that people would eventually like them, and what would happen if similar underground songs were given similar oversaturation.
The death of the local newspapers may well be the death of us...
After my recent go-around with the Dallas Morning News, I have wondered if the newspapers are trying to run off the print subscribers in favor of “screenshot” news. Delivery is horrible as is help line, voice mail or phone. And the price is becoming ridiculous. Papers can’t be delivered on bikes anymore, so they need to pay people decent compensation. When my paper is delivered half of the time, I wonder if they want me to cancel. Sorry for the rant. I’m tired of them blaming the decline totally on subscribers.
I’m in Tucson. Stopped getting an actual paper because the damn thing was dry to a crisp in this heat by the time I could run out and get it. It’s all ads. And someone commented below; tired of blaming the consumer for paper failure to thrive. Also, the Tucson paper has a terrible web presence; it’s expensive for them to get good tech so it’s easy to use. Apparently.
I’m sad to report that our local paper seems to be trying way too hard to present “both sides” when in reality there is no moral equivalence between the presumptive presidential candidates in the 2024 election.
Late-night dorm room discussion is a perfect way to articulate it. Similar in spirit to the late-night dorm room discussions Paul Ryan used to have about cutting Social Security...
As his family was collecting their social security check.... How could killing off Social Security even been a consideration for him? They survived due, in part, to that revenue, if I understood correctly.
Ryan’s father ran a prosperous construction business, so the family didn’t have to rely on Social Security to survive. Ryan was able to save his Social Security benefits for college, but he would gladly remove other people from survivor income. I get disgusted with people like Ryan and Boebert who got help with they needed it, but it’s unthinkable for anyone else to get similar help. They forget where they came from. Boebert’s mother brought up Boebert as a single mom on welfare, but Boebert wants to prevent other people from having the same help she did.
Yes. I had the same thought. It’s so flawed but then….that’s the nature of the beast for conflict, stubbornness, stupid laws etc. what a planet we are on.
Don’t know what Woke me up. But it might have been that I grew up in a magical place called Brooklyn. Moved to other magical places in New York, Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina. I’m 85. Have traveled the planet. Imagined the stars and while revealing in my own luck, want to lift all peoples and end war.
Not in my lifetime, but soon in geological time, and suddenly, hate will no longer pay.
So neat to read this Bill. It is amazing the group that reads and enjoys Greg. Too bad we can’t all be in the actual same room sometimes. What a hoot that would be; and the STORIES from so many cultures, the insights, the funny things we’d share in real time. Brooklyn is magical. I also lived in Oklahoma which was a hell of an education and boy oh boy is it coming in handy right Now.
Nov 28, 2023·edited Nov 28, 2023Liked by Greg Olear
We like to call them donkeys.
They’re great animals!
“Today's domestic donkey is a descendant of the African wild ass”
“Unlike horses, donkeys aren't easily startled. Even when they are, they don't panic. Donkeys stop to assess the situation, a trait that's commonly confused with stubbornness. This surefootedness paired with strength — they can carry up to twice their own body weight — make them ideal "beasts of burden." These creatures are still used for transporting goods around the world, although other common uses like sheep and cattle protection play into the donkey's lesser-known strengths. Once a donkey bonds with a herd of sheep, cattle or goats, it will protect the animals as it would its own, keeping dogs and coyotes at bay.”
I didn’t see any donkeys when I was there. They generally use mules which are larger animals. Mules are a cross between horses & donkeys. They have the best traits of both animals and are extra highly prized. (Mules unfortunately cannot reproduce)
Just started, but wanted to say I'm reminded of LB's rant about success awhile back on The Five 8. You know how I feel about LB, but she came off as smug and judgmental and I got the uncomfortable feeling she hadn't thought it through.
Offhand, the only absolute hereditary monarchies I can think of are Saudi Arabia (since 1932) and North Korea (since 1948). I doubt if most Americans, including anyone you mentioned in your article, would live in either place voluntarily, although Donald Trump looks at them as aspirational models for his ideal government. He dreams of being a dictator with absolute power.
Thailand is another place where the ruling family is grabbing back power, and King Vajiralongkorn officially named an official concubine for a time until it became clear she wanted to become Queen as well. He wound up ditching her for good.
I dunno. I don't agree there is an expert class. I keep the convo open but know money is not a mensch. The poor widow is the biggest giver. I thought of this song and love that this version is a "Remaster." Reissue, repackage, remaster.
I went ex-GOP Iin 2016 just as "death of expertise" resentment took off among their "thinkers." In the end most of the right wing ivory tower collapsed.
I guess I’ve always known there are intelligent, well educated people who believe almost the opposite of everything I hold dear, but this is an overwhelming dose of their crap! Diversity is good for a democracy—if those on the other side of the diversity don’t destroy it!
We need to expand our understanding of diversity to include people who seem to be and think alike. Even the things we agree on we disagree on. I feel like I’m living in a kadailascope and yeah, the thing that turns around. Everyone seems to be on their own planet in so many ways.
For me, at the fundamental base, when all of this crap is boiled away, I just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. The insidious nature of this "plan" is what disturbs me the most, and as Will Bunch pointed out in the article (VERY instructive, by the way),
"...the growing rot infecting another key U.S. institution [D.C.] is just more evidence for their stunning argument now flying at warp speed [to, in Bannon's words, 'bring down the administrative state'], yet under the radar of a clueless mainstream media."
Is the MSM clueless, or are they simply directed on what they report and how they report it? Remember that there is A LOT of news going on in the world every single minute, some of it important and some not important in the grand scheme of things, but who decides what gets reported? My contention is the MSM gets paid big bucks to allow themselves to appear to be clueless. "If it bleeds, it leads," is truer today than ever before. The "bothsidesism" will be a big part of our downfall.
From the Will Bunch column, another article caught my eye on the relatively massive protests in Staten Island over asylum seekers staying in two shelters there. All of the ugliness of the right-wing was on display, as to be expected. This is also a part of it; the "red Caesaring of America." Those people have to be onboard to get it started, and they certainly are. Of course, they'll get a nice surprise after Julius Trump doesn't need them anymore, but they're too self-centered and filled with hate to realize that. "Oh, it won't be ME he'll throw under the bus! Surely not!" Around Chicago we're starting to hear these kinds of protests too, only they're protected under the fig leaf of "The Mayor didn't ASK us if he could put these shelters in our neighborhoods!" reactionary bullshit. It sounded good for a day or two, but when the protests extend into weeks, the xenophobia starts to smell. In fairness though, the Mayor is kind of an ass and will serve ONE term if he's lucky.
This is some brilliant writing, Greg, and I anxiously await Part II. You're always full of surprises!
With regard to the MSM, I don't think it's sinister, what is reported on and what's not...I sat in on any number of news meetings when I worked at AP. I think it's more of a institutional memory, wisdom of crowds kind of thing, where inertia is more to blame than some secret force. It's hard to make waves in any staid institution, and newsrooms are no exception.
The Watergate reporting at WaPo happened because two very junior reporters were given a bit more time and energy by their editor, and protected by both Ben Bradlee and Kay Graham when things got difficult. It took ALL of those people, and their particular personalities, to generate that. Easier, and better for your career, to just report on the horserace and the polls.
Needless to say, the NRx don't like immigrants. Like, at all.
Hope you don’t mind, I shared this comment on twitter. Very valuable to consider how newsrooms actually work. We are relying on them to save us, at least I sense that’s happening.
I think Mayor Brandon Johnson is a good person with intentions of solving the deep rooted problem of racism in Chicago. Gov. Abbott is using every tool in his chaos toolbox to throw a wrench at that. How can he focus on his intended agenda with thousands of people in desperate need being dropped off throughout the city on a daily basis?
To answer your last question, power. They can ditch him and install the smarter version. What a read. Thank you for giving us the info that the MSM is to busy with the Kardashians to give us. Kaczynski was a surprise, or rather, shock. My take on the substitution of “woke” for “leftist” is that they could tar way more people with that term, which was deliberately “weaponized” by republicans since chump came on the scene. Need a few more reads before my brain will stop spinning. The MAGAts that I know seem to be the lesser of the evils. There are brains and lots of money behind this not yet visible tsunami. Ronnie’s wet dreams materialized, or would he be somewhat surprised. Nancy wouldn’t be…
Holy crap! I almost ran right off my treadmill reading this. EXCEPTIONAL work👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I particularly enjoyed the fact that just as I was thinking about rebuttals to paragraphs, you then provided those rebuttals. Also, huge props for working “Elagabalus” in! Can’t wait for next installment.
Thanks, Lisbeth. Not sure if it should be "Elagabaluses" or "Elagabali."
Their ravings sound like the products of the stupidest ever late-night dorm room discussions. How is it possible for anyone to take these people seriously?
6 corporations own the “mainstream media” (ABC, CBS, NBC/MSNBC, Fox). At least this is a possible explanation for why so many people take a certain narrative seriously; repeated over and over until the lie/every manifestation of the lie is believed. And then, of course, there’s so called social media, the mainstream of which is also owned.
To your point: Sometimes I wonder if certain pop songs were played ad nauseum in the hope that people would eventually like them, and what would happen if similar underground songs were given similar oversaturation.
The death of the local newspapers may well be the death of us...
After my recent go-around with the Dallas Morning News, I have wondered if the newspapers are trying to run off the print subscribers in favor of “screenshot” news. Delivery is horrible as is help line, voice mail or phone. And the price is becoming ridiculous. Papers can’t be delivered on bikes anymore, so they need to pay people decent compensation. When my paper is delivered half of the time, I wonder if they want me to cancel. Sorry for the rant. I’m tired of them blaming the decline totally on subscribers.
This has been my mantra for years..🥺
I’m in Tucson. Stopped getting an actual paper because the damn thing was dry to a crisp in this heat by the time I could run out and get it. It’s all ads. And someone commented below; tired of blaming the consumer for paper failure to thrive. Also, the Tucson paper has a terrible web presence; it’s expensive for them to get good tech so it’s easy to use. Apparently.
I’m sad to report that our local paper seems to be trying way too hard to present “both sides” when in reality there is no moral equivalence between the presumptive presidential candidates in the 2024 election.
Late-night dorm room discussion is a perfect way to articulate it. Similar in spirit to the late-night dorm room discussions Paul Ryan used to have about cutting Social Security...
Wonder if Paul still loves Ayn…
😆..such shallow people,no wonder they all felt like John Gault.
Wearing the mantle of scholar. What tripe…
As his family was collecting their social security check.... How could killing off Social Security even been a consideration for him? They survived due, in part, to that revenue, if I understood correctly.
Ryan’s father ran a prosperous construction business, so the family didn’t have to rely on Social Security to survive. Ryan was able to save his Social Security benefits for college, but he would gladly remove other people from survivor income. I get disgusted with people like Ryan and Boebert who got help with they needed it, but it’s unthinkable for anyone else to get similar help. They forget where they came from. Boebert’s mother brought up Boebert as a single mom on welfare, but Boebert wants to prevent other people from having the same help she did.
The hypocrisy is absolutely disgusting!
Money and the power that they dislike when others have it. Unless you get too active, like Ted K did.
Yes. I had the same thought. It’s so flawed but then….that’s the nature of the beast for conflict, stubbornness, stupid laws etc. what a planet we are on.
Don’t know what Woke me up. But it might have been that I grew up in a magical place called Brooklyn. Moved to other magical places in New York, Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina. I’m 85. Have traveled the planet. Imagined the stars and while revealing in my own luck, want to lift all peoples and end war.
Not in my lifetime, but soon in geological time, and suddenly, hate will no longer pay.
Billserle.com
Thank you!
So neat to read this Bill. It is amazing the group that reads and enjoys Greg. Too bad we can’t all be in the actual same room sometimes. What a hoot that would be; and the STORIES from so many cultures, the insights, the funny things we’d share in real time. Brooklyn is magical. I also lived in Oklahoma which was a hell of an education and boy oh boy is it coming in handy right Now.
Wow, brilliant piece Greg!
Thank you!
Best line:
Which means we wouldn’t get the family of the lion or the tribe of the eagle; we’d get the ass of the horse.
I’m still doubled over laughing 😂 😂😂
It won’t be funny though if the ass is elected.😵💫
But even if the majority of Americans somehow wanted an absolute monarch, why on earth would we opt for King Donald I?
That is incomprehensible to anyone with a brain.
Thanks!
I just realized that the ass is the symbol for OUR party...
Asses used to be considered useful property as well as indicating the working class. Only aristocrats we’re allowed to ride horses.
We like to call them donkeys.
They’re great animals!
“Today's domestic donkey is a descendant of the African wild ass”
“Unlike horses, donkeys aren't easily startled. Even when they are, they don't panic. Donkeys stop to assess the situation, a trait that's commonly confused with stubbornness. This surefootedness paired with strength — they can carry up to twice their own body weight — make them ideal "beasts of burden." These creatures are still used for transporting goods around the world, although other common uses like sheep and cattle protection play into the donkey's lesser-known strengths. Once a donkey bonds with a herd of sheep, cattle or goats, it will protect the animals as it would its own, keeping dogs and coyotes at bay.”
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/donkey.htm
I now realize that I was using "ass" not as donkey but as rear end, ha ha.
Donkeys are excellent creatures.
Well thump really IS the horse’s ASS!
Yes donkeys are great.
Your line really made me laugh. 😂
I heard that the caution is the reason they are used for transport to the bottom of Grand Canyon. Priceless.
I didn’t see any donkeys when I was there. They generally use mules which are larger animals. Mules are a cross between horses & donkeys. They have the best traits of both animals and are extra highly prized. (Mules unfortunately cannot reproduce)
I stand corrected
I imagine a majority of people do not realize mules & donkeys are different animals. Most of us rarely run across either these days. 😊
They do not deserve the majestic elephant.
Glad you posted that passage as I was thinking that was the best line!! 🤣
Rupert made him look human, took Goebbels-level propaganda. His hate agenda was just what the doctor ordered for the fear of Dem competence.
Good one Greg! Are you listening to the Red Scare girls? Fascism served up with giggles and gummies. They love Curtis.
Thanks, Nina. They are coming in Part Two!
Just started, but wanted to say I'm reminded of LB's rant about success awhile back on The Five 8. You know how I feel about LB, but she came off as smug and judgmental and I got the uncomfortable feeling she hadn't thought it through.
Greg you have a way of telling us an important truth about the world and I throughly enjoy it! Look forward to part 2 next Tuesday.
Thank you!
Brilliant as usual.
Thanks, Sally!
"Which means we wouldn’t get the family of the lion or the tribe of the eagle; we’d get the ass of the horse."
OMG! Snort, cackle, laugh, titter, tee-hee, squeal, gasp, gag, choke, wheeze, hoot, hee-hee, ho-ho, ha-ha, guffaw, holler, howl, spit, lol, giggle, chortle, cough, lol, lulz, roflmao, :)
Heehee.
Offhand, the only absolute hereditary monarchies I can think of are Saudi Arabia (since 1932) and North Korea (since 1948). I doubt if most Americans, including anyone you mentioned in your article, would live in either place voluntarily, although Donald Trump looks at them as aspirational models for his ideal government. He dreams of being a dictator with absolute power.
Good point. Neither of those places are on my bucket list for where I'd want to live someday. Sheesh.
Thailand is another place where the ruling family is grabbing back power, and King Vajiralongkorn officially named an official concubine for a time until it became clear she wanted to become Queen as well. He wound up ditching her for good.
My hope is that the children of this type of person will turn all these archaic ideas on their heads and reject it all.
It does seem easy to backlash against this sort of thing.
I dunno. I don't agree there is an expert class. I keep the convo open but know money is not a mensch. The poor widow is the biggest giver. I thought of this song and love that this version is a "Remaster." Reissue, repackage, remaster.
https://youtu.be/5bYXb7iEDJ4?si=h6gwmfIs9gVzxNUD
I went ex-GOP Iin 2016 just as "death of expertise" resentment took off among their "thinkers." In the end most of the right wing ivory tower collapsed.
Smiths FTW!
I guess I’ve always known there are intelligent, well educated people who believe almost the opposite of everything I hold dear, but this is an overwhelming dose of their crap! Diversity is good for a democracy—if those on the other side of the diversity don’t destroy it!
Ah, but they don't like diversity, either. The think it shows weakness. Although I can't remember which text that came from.
We need to expand our understanding of diversity to include people who seem to be and think alike. Even the things we agree on we disagree on. I feel like I’m living in a kadailascope and yeah, the thing that turns around. Everyone seems to be on their own planet in so many ways.
For me, at the fundamental base, when all of this crap is boiled away, I just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. The insidious nature of this "plan" is what disturbs me the most, and as Will Bunch pointed out in the article (VERY instructive, by the way),
"...the growing rot infecting another key U.S. institution [D.C.] is just more evidence for their stunning argument now flying at warp speed [to, in Bannon's words, 'bring down the administrative state'], yet under the radar of a clueless mainstream media."
Is the MSM clueless, or are they simply directed on what they report and how they report it? Remember that there is A LOT of news going on in the world every single minute, some of it important and some not important in the grand scheme of things, but who decides what gets reported? My contention is the MSM gets paid big bucks to allow themselves to appear to be clueless. "If it bleeds, it leads," is truer today than ever before. The "bothsidesism" will be a big part of our downfall.
From the Will Bunch column, another article caught my eye on the relatively massive protests in Staten Island over asylum seekers staying in two shelters there. All of the ugliness of the right-wing was on display, as to be expected. This is also a part of it; the "red Caesaring of America." Those people have to be onboard to get it started, and they certainly are. Of course, they'll get a nice surprise after Julius Trump doesn't need them anymore, but they're too self-centered and filled with hate to realize that. "Oh, it won't be ME he'll throw under the bus! Surely not!" Around Chicago we're starting to hear these kinds of protests too, only they're protected under the fig leaf of "The Mayor didn't ASK us if he could put these shelters in our neighborhoods!" reactionary bullshit. It sounded good for a day or two, but when the protests extend into weeks, the xenophobia starts to smell. In fairness though, the Mayor is kind of an ass and will serve ONE term if he's lucky.
This is some brilliant writing, Greg, and I anxiously await Part II. You're always full of surprises!
Thanks, Steve. Yes: being left alone! Yes!
With regard to the MSM, I don't think it's sinister, what is reported on and what's not...I sat in on any number of news meetings when I worked at AP. I think it's more of a institutional memory, wisdom of crowds kind of thing, where inertia is more to blame than some secret force. It's hard to make waves in any staid institution, and newsrooms are no exception.
The Watergate reporting at WaPo happened because two very junior reporters were given a bit more time and energy by their editor, and protected by both Ben Bradlee and Kay Graham when things got difficult. It took ALL of those people, and their particular personalities, to generate that. Easier, and better for your career, to just report on the horserace and the polls.
Needless to say, the NRx don't like immigrants. Like, at all.
So incredible since 90% of us came from immigrants.
Hope you don’t mind, I shared this comment on twitter. Very valuable to consider how newsrooms actually work. We are relying on them to save us, at least I sense that’s happening.
Hitler threw soup kitchens and crumbs to working Germans..100 years later..here we go again 🙁
I think Mayor Brandon Johnson is a good person with intentions of solving the deep rooted problem of racism in Chicago. Gov. Abbott is using every tool in his chaos toolbox to throw a wrench at that. How can he focus on his intended agenda with thousands of people in desperate need being dropped off throughout the city on a daily basis?
To answer your last question, power. They can ditch him and install the smarter version. What a read. Thank you for giving us the info that the MSM is to busy with the Kardashians to give us. Kaczynski was a surprise, or rather, shock. My take on the substitution of “woke” for “leftist” is that they could tar way more people with that term, which was deliberately “weaponized” by republicans since chump came on the scene. Need a few more reads before my brain will stop spinning. The MAGAts that I know seem to be the lesser of the evils. There are brains and lots of money behind this not yet visible tsunami. Ronnie’s wet dreams materialized, or would he be somewhat surprised. Nancy wouldn’t be…