ROLEY

Tag: Trump

  • Thursday, July 27th, 2023

    If you have been looking for yet another reason why cable news needs to go the way of the dodo, you need look no further than today’s breathless hovering over the DC Courthouse. CNN and MSNBC (Sorry, there isn’t enough money in circulation to get me to watch the third one) spent hours breathlessly wondering if today was going to be the day we got a third indictment. Chris Jansing of MSNBC noted at the end of her hour on MSNBC that sources inside the Courthouse said an indictment was not likely today or tomorrow. You would think that would be the end of it, but they were right back at it in the next hour as if they hadn’t debunked any possibility of it 5 minutes earlier. Gotta keep those eyeballs any way you can, I suppose. Seriously, kill off cable news. It’s idiocy, making idiots.

    On the other hand, turn on CNN or MSNBC at 3am if you’re unlucky enough to be awake at that hour. There’s no talking head that wants to be opining at that hour of morning, so what you get is an anchor reporting the news, and the packages they’ve prepared. You know…news. Like the CNN of old, before Reagan got shot, or before the Gulf War or 9/11, when they realized continuous disaster coverage attracts eyeballs and gets people through the next ad break. Cynical? Of course it is, but then you must realize that cable news is not a public service, it’s an attempt at ratings and profits like everything else on TV is. Rachel Maddow isn’t competing with Hannity, she’s competing with WWE RAW and Monday Night Football. Read that sentence again and again until it sinks in.

    I don’t know when news became a profit center, and maybe I’m an idealist for thinking that profits should not be the prime motivator for journalism, but here we are.

  • Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

    • Back in the deep, dark 1980s, there was a shop at Pembroke Mall called A Bit of England. This was the place you went to find chessboards and darts accessories, and most importantly, role-playing games stuff. It was in that store I found my two favorite games, Shadowrun and Paranoia. Pembroke Mall has gone through a cubic shitload of changes in the ensuing years, and Bit of England got the shit end of the stick. Eventually, they got evicted from the Mall because getting knocked down to build a senior living community. If you consider that the demographic that still goes to a Mall is my age, it was already a senior living community.

    I ran some errands and found the store’s new location. I had to walk in. It was just how I remembered it. I ended up walking out with a set of RPG dice on impulse. I haven’t played in years. Call it a memento, I guess. I’ll put them on my ‘shelf of the ego’ and look at them now and then. Nice to walk in the past for a moment.

    I’m not a person who chooses to walk in the past for very long. Like a lot of people, I didn’t have a particularly nice childhood. I have parts of the backstory that I love of course; I will talk your ears off about Guantanamo Bay in the early 80s. There was something special about that place, and I loved living there. But the common thread of my backstory is how often I was left to my own devices. I understand that’s common among my generation, but I don’t wear it like a badge of honor like some creators do on TikTok. I’m Gen X, and as we like to say, “Whatever.”

    • I see the former guy appealed to SCOTUS in another attempt to keep the House from seeing his tax records. I don’t know why you’re even trying at this point. If trends are accurate, the House is going to flip Republican, and that’s it. That effectively means Trump is going to get away with a lot of stuff he should be going to jail for, because our justice system grinds ever so slowly for people in that rarified air. You and I would be well into our first year in Federal lockup. Of course, once the former guy announces he’s running for President again, all investigation is going to halt. He’s counting on that, and he’s counting on heading back to the WH so that he can’t be touched for another four years. We should have arrested him when you had the chance. We’re all kinds of fucked.

    • A serious question: What is the objective reality that we agree exists? I’m afraid it got drowned in a bathtub somewhere. Not to delve too far into Ayn Rand, but one of the central tenets of Objectivism is that A is A, or a chair is a chair. I honestly believe that we have somehow split off into two groups, one that believes in an objective reality that can be observed, and one that believes what they are told is reality. Maybe it’s been this way for a long time, but this darkest timeline we’re living in has brought it into a sharper focus for me. I don’t know how else to explain it other than to say when presented with a demonstrable fact, there is a group of us here in [American] society that can deny its existence based on [insert bullshit here]. How do we resolve that? Can we resolve that?

    • Finally, the first bonus pod dropped into the Patreon Feed today if you’re so inclined. First ep of the main show will be this weekend. LFG, as the youngs say.

  • Monday, October 31, 2022

    • I have reached the point where I despise the word “woke”. I think it’s become co-opted in the same manner that “fake news” was.

    Dictionary.com defines woke as:

    Having or marked by an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities.

    It seems that the only people using that term these days are using it disparagingly, and I guess I need to ask why. Are we not supposed to be aware of injustices and prejudices that exist? Am I not supposed to be aware of things that happened in the past? See, I think we’re using the wrong term. Those things aren’t “woke”, they’re *kind*. I choose to be kind, and instead of trying to defend against the term “woke”, I would rather ask those disparaging people why it’s wrong to be *kind*.

    Of course, in a few of those cases, It’s the bare minimum to be a decent human, but that’s another story.

    • Here’s a tool for your toolbox: Meet Evan Sernoffsky. He’s the goofball that originally reported that Paul Pelosi’s assailant was in just underwear. The stupid among us grabbed hold of that and won’t let go. Here’s Sernoffsky’s retraction, which the stupid seem to have missed. That’s funny. UPDATE: The AP reports that the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi told police that he wanted to break Nancy’s kneecaps and hold her hostage. Gaslight that, morons. BTW, here’s the DOJ complaint.

    • I see that Taylor Swift has made history by having every song in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 charts. I seem to remember the Beatles having the Top 5 in 1964, and I distinctly remember thinking that no one could possibly top that. Madonna didn’t, MJ didn’t, Whitney didn’t, and BRITNEY didn’t. I thought the chance of that ever happening had gone away. I was wrong. I was also wrong about Taylor. My friends, she may not be my cup of tea, but she is legit.

    • I’m the generation of kids that made yellow ribbons for the Iranian hostages. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was the start of that whole thing, when they deposed the Shah and installed Khomeni as the leader of that country. To see this generation now pushing back against it is amazing to watch, but as you watch it, be mindful of one thing: They shoot without shame. In addition to Mahsa Amini’s death, remember Neda Agha-Soltan while you’re at it. She died in 2009 in the eleciton protests, you may remember her.

    “…and these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds…”

    • People shooting each other outside a liqour stor in Tallahassee? Shocked, I tells ya. DeDipshit wants to pass permitless carry in Florida. What could possibly go wrong?

    • Just block *Elon. Just block anyone who screenshots Elon. Just block anyone who wants to argue about Elon. Sure, Twitter’s going to auger into the ground like a flaming fucking lawn dart, but I think it might be super fun to watch. I mean, it’s just day three and look where we are. I did sign up for Bluesky, so…

    *Also applies to Trump if he’s reinstated.