Category Archives: Nonsense

01.08.17
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We Need to Talk Really Quick About Maureen Dowd

Image result for maureen dowd

There isn’t much to say about her latest column, which is basically that Trump might not have the right temperament to be President. It’s not, you know, incorrect, but it is without any demonstrable insight. It’s pretty typical Maureen Dowd. I just wanted to point out this part, while reminding you that this is in the New York Times, and not, say, the dot-matrix printed community newsletter of a particularly rundown condo board.

The new president will suddenly realize that Joe Biden is right. He needs to grow up. Chuck Schumer is right. He has to stop nonsense-tweeting and name-calling. John McCain is right. He needs to stop fawning over Vladimir Putin, his B.F.F. whose eyes flash “K.G.B.”

Donald Trump will, at long last, assume a mantle of dignity.

NOT!

Capitalization, and indeed, using a “not” joke that would have been hacky 25 years ago, are hers.

This has been your semi-regular reminder that Maureen Dowd is paid to do this.

APOLOGETIC UPDATE: As Diamond Mark Perrone pointed out, this was clearly a reference to Trump making a “NOT!” reference with Obama. Given the endless nonsense coming from him, I had forgotten about that. Given how hacky a writer Dowd is, I had assumed it was her “joke”. But this was not hacky. I retract my statement.

However, “his B.F.F. whose eyes flash ‘K.G.B.'” is hers.

09.20.16
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Publishing Note: Odd hours on the horizon

As I mentioned last week, I started a new job this week. In an office, with a commute (easy train ride, thankfully). My morning is shorter and so far (one day in) haven’t grokked about blogging during the day. I am sure I’ll find time and a routine soon enough, and will get back to what matters. If this seems unacceptable to you, I urge you to write your favorite publisher and demand they hire me as a fulltime writer immediately.

09.08.16
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The Point, Nutshelled

Image result for chaplin great dictator

Not that you need any more proof that Donald Trump is the most unserious person ever to run for President (even counting Gary “Aleppo?” Johnson, who is mostly serious), but…

After months of laboring in obscurity and waiting on paychecks that did not arrive, most of Donald Trump’s Washington policy shop quit, with some telling theWashington Post they decided to jump ship after realizing the GOP nominee wasn’t interested in immersive debate prep.

Some staffers said the last straw came following two marathon sessions in early August to plan how to prepare Trump for the upcoming presidential debates, but the campaign abruptly shifted strategies. One former staffer told the paper, “The New York office realized that their candidate would not be receptive to that level of intense preparation.”

Not receptive. Because he has a very good brain, you know?

08.24.16
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I’m Probably Going to Blame Teens For This

 

Don’t be so smug, Brayden. This is your fault. 

 

Facebook is running a small test that allows all videos to automatically start rolling with the sound on, rather than silently as they do now — this despite the company’s own research showing that unexpected, loud video ads annoy 80 percent of users.
[Peter Kafka | Recode]

I don’t really have much to comment on Facebook here, per se: they are going to do what they are going to do, and continue to make money, even as we grouse. And we will, because automatic videos with sound are annoying as hell. I work from home, where no one will ever look over and know I am goofing around when a video starts playing, and I still get instantly irritated and close whatever window the sound is in. It’s a natural reaction, a vestige of office-based guilt, but mostly annoyance. I’ll sit through ads. I’ll click on things. If I get a website for free, and enjoy the content, that’s the price. It’s fine. But not when you insist upon makign a racket. But anyway, that’s not what bugs me about this, really.

No, it’s that 80% that blows my mind. That seems overwhelming, but that means 20% of you aren’t annoyed by this. If you are talking to five people right now, one of them is ok with an ad for Hardees suddenly shouting at them. Who is fine with this? Who are you people? In some ways, this is more disturbing than knowing that millions of people are voting for Trump.

It’s probably teens. I knew it was teens. Even when it was the bears, I knew it was them.