Slow news day

https://twitter.com/RespectElves/status/1192270824398446592

"There's a white man standing in the street."
"I seen one."

https://twitter.com/mad_liberals/status/1191719728496160770

And the MFM wonders why they get called the MFM?

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1191770985441218560

As InstaPundit says, "think of them as Democrats with by-lines and it makes sense". With the power of AND, Iowahawk: Journalism is about covering stories. With a pillow. Until they stop moving.

Mark Zaid, esquire and sleazebag.

Hey "Rex", why don't you reveal your identity instead of attacking someone while hiding? I'd love to have my intelligence and law enforcement clients see what they can find about your life. We can compare notes on our research efforts. What do you say? Game?

https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1000775124541497344

Will no one rid me of these turbulent leaks?

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1192195097422680064

It's the shell fragment that sells the narrative...

https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1191929662693421056cars

If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/06/go-ahead-make-a-martyr-out-of-michael-che/

The Manitowoc Minute objects to Barstool Sports pick of worst city in Wisconsin.

https://youtu.be/c3BXGHNOczg

Col. Barkey:

https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1191037379370336256

I want to believe.

Remember, this is our federal government which, in the best possible interpretation of this event, failed so completely that its failure went beyond failure into an extra-dimensional realm of hyper mega-failure. And our garbage elite now wants to put it in charge of our health care. The same people who – again, best case – were unable to keep a guy in a concrete room with cameras on him from throttling himself with a blankey are now supposed to handle your doctoring.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/11/07/enjoy-the-glorious-epstein-didnt-kill-himself-meme---p--n2555990

https://twitter.com/FrankSorick/status/1192460158078767108?s=20

Canada is California but with 11 months of snow:

https://twitter.com/CyaraBird/status/1192229576719470592

This guy.

https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2019/11/06/facepalm-rep-eric-swalwell-adds-to-the-list-of-trumps-impeachable-offenses-hint-its-even-dumber-than-usual/

Hint: anyone at the ES (executive service) level serves at the pleasure of the President.

This is disgusting, the waiter is not wearing any gloves

https://mobile.twitter.com/LilithLovett/status/1192084913559728128

University presidents tend to be clueless.

The messages on the flyers “are of course fully protected by the First Amendment” regardless of how offensive they are, according to UCLA Law Prof. Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert who previously poured cold water on UConn’s aggressive response to the N-word shouts.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/western-connecticut-state-puts-itself-at-legal-risk-by-promising-to-punish-its-ok-to-be-white-perps/

But, then again, what does a legal scholar know about the law?

This is disgusting, the waiter is not wearing any gloves

That's bad, but...$55/person for that? and I'm old enough to remember when you wanted to eat marrow, you had to crack your own bones. They didn't come pre-sliced.

Yes, I did hunt mastodons in my youth. Why do you ask?

I’m old enough to remember a time when the waiter/chef putting sauce on your food aimed for the food.

So, one for our legal eagles here: ABC's Amy Robach knew of substantial criminal behavior regarding Jeffrey Epstein. Ronan Farrow knew of Harvey Weinstein, and NBC spiked his story, but at least they gave Farrow the opportunity to take the story to another outlet. Robach, on the other hand, didn't take her story anywhere. She sat on it. And by the current account, she was very unhappy about doing so.

Now: was this a voluntary decision on her part? Judging by her temperament in the leaked video, it doesn't appear so. Did ABC threaten her into not reporting the story, with company discipline and/or loss of job? If that is what happened, did ABC commit any violation of the law? If it were shown that this was an ABC management decision (in other words, not just some editor-flacky), could it be prosecutable under RICO?

The Left inadvertently engages the Streisand Effect once again, to their own dismay. I think it's hilarious that Spicer gets through week after week on the results of the popular vote -- aren't we supposed to respect the results of the popular vote? However, as someone who has been a competitive ballroom dancer, I will say this: That boy ain't that good.

"The Brutal Murder of the Mormon Family in Mexico Was Almost Inevitable"

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/mormon-family-murder-mexico-lebaron.html

Excerpt:

...This is not the first time that the LeBaron community, a peaceful and hardworking group that has lived in northeastern Chihuahua for a century, has been the victim of violence. Ten years ago, criminals abducted 16-year-old Eric LeBaron and demanded $1 million for his release. In an act of remarkable audacity the family, led by Julián and his brother, Benjamín, chose not to pay the ransom and instead organized a series of boisterous protests. Surprisingly, their resistance paid off: Eric was freed within a week. After the ordeal, Benjamín LeBaron became an outspoken community leader against organized crime in the region. But violence had the last word. Two months after Eric’s release, local gangs sought retribution. A group of armed men stormed Benjamín’s house and took both Benjamín and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar. They were found shot soon afterward...

(snip)

On the other hand, from the comments...

Tito Puente's third timbale
8 hours ago

"Dayer LeBaron's cult was established in Mexico so that they could continue marrying multiple teenage girls. LeBaron's son, Ervil LeBaron was sentenced to life in prison after killing dozens of people in religious disagreements.

"None of this justifies murdering women and children (or men, for that matter), but let's not pretend they live in a lawless part of Mexico only because they are just jolly people who love enchiladas."

(followed by a Wikipedia link on Ervil LeBaron, who died in 1981)

It could have been much worse, he could have been caught on camera smashing *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* those pumpkins

Bay Ridge resident Daniel McGrath, 50, was stopped by NYPD officers on Tuesday for a busted taillight near the corner of Fort Hamilton Parkway and 64th Street in Borough Park. He was found in possession of a small amount of cocaine, and arrested, at which point police say they linked him to the series of smashing pumpkins incidents.

https://gothamist.com/news/breaking-nypd-announces-arrest-case-smashed-pumpkins

Found this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-global-fertility-crash/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Check out what happens when you run the cursor over the headline!

And, judging from the results, one would infer that contrary to what the movie "Idiocracy" implies, it's the couples in the poorest COUNTRIES who have the most babies - NOT the stupidest people, in rich countries like the US. (The lowest birth rate seems to be in South Korea.)

And at least 13 countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean have an average birth rate of 3 or fewer babies per woman - a couple of countries even have a rate of only 1.5 babies!

OwO;

What's this?

https://mobile.twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1192457918819508224

> And the MFM wonders why
> they get called the MFM?

No part of that sentence coheres to reality.

There's this weird thing where people comport themselves in alliances requiring no license or testing or outdoor experience of every kind, but then imagine themselves to be daring mavericks, despised & targeted by some punishing majority. It's weird.

NGAF

Just for starters—

Daring minds do not watch television. At all.

They understand that television is produced for the benefit of those who produce it, not for those who are torpid enough to sit there at watch it, trying do divine the secret truths.

What is MFM an acronym for? Google produced a bunc that make no sense in context. Mainstream Faux Media?

"Daring minds do not watch television"

To shreds, you say?

They understand that television is produced for the benefit of those who produce it, not for those who are torpid enough to sit there at watch it, trying do divine the secret truths. ~ Crid at November 7, 2019 8:07 PM

A "vast wasteland" was what Newton Minnow called television. For which he was enshrined in TV trivia by Sherwood Schwartz, with the boat on Gilligan's Island being named after him.

Ironically, Gilligan's Island was a good example of Minnow's criticism. As originally envisioned, it was to be a serious show, a microcosm of society stranded weekly on a deserted island. Could they survive? Perhaps a portent of reality shows to come. in the production process, however, Gilligan's Island was reduced to mindless situation comedy.

You guys are soaking in it

As originally envisioned, it was to be a serious show, a microcosm of society stranded weekly on a deserted island.
________________________________________

Somehow, I never heard that.

When my nieces were younger, I secretly wanted to show them episodes of the 1960s series "Batman" (I spelled that out so no one would assume I was talking about the 1966 movie or any number of animated versions that came later). After all, it's loaded with clever satire and it's just scary enough for kids.

But, I changed my mind and never said a word to them. This was mainly because I only get to see them two or three times a year anyway, but also because I realized that just because the series is still on TV and has stood the test of time (sort of), that wasn't a good enough reason to try to impress them with it (I might have failed anyway) or to try to get them hooked on it when there are hundreds of top-rated MOVIES to show them instead, some of which are in danger of becoming forgotten gems. In other words, stuff that's a little more serious and worthwhile. Besides, I cared more about getting them hooked on books - I've given them at least 500 so far, over the last 16 years.

Bottom line: Regardless of which generation they're from, if adults want their cultural tastes to be taken truly seriously by the young, they need to keep their mouths shut most of the time and let kids discover old pop culture on their own - AND they need to demonstrate an extra, different type of humility. That is, they need to focus as much as possible on the music and literature that was created long before the adults were born - that which has TRULY stood the test of time, so the young will come to realize that that test deserves real respect, since even their elders respect it. (Of course, the problem there is that plenty of boomers and GenXers never DID learn to like jazz or classical music or any movie or book written before they were born, so naturally they don't have those things at home for the kids to pick up.)

Btw, here's a wonderful film guide from 2007 by the acclaimed critic Ty Burr (born in 1957). I give it to parents whenever I can. About 240 movies get discussed. (He didn't go into great detail on the REALLY famous ones like Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, or Star Wars, IIRC.)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/244620.The_Best_Old_Movies_for_Families

From one reader:

Julie Barrett: "Bitter that I did not read this when it originally came out in 2007 when my kids were 6 & 9. It would have been such a great resource - ugh, so irritated! This is a perfect gift to give new parents. Really, anyone with kids under the age of 10 needs to go get this book...

"...My kids are not kids anymore at 20 & almost 17. As Ty Burr puts it in his introduction, if you are planning to introduce old movies to a teen - well, that ship has already sailed. The horse has left the barn. Luckily, I did make my kids watch old movies with me over the years. Not to the extent this author did with his kids - I want to kidnap his oldest daughter and watch movies with her, he's so lucky to have a kid to share his passion with him. Sadly, neither of my kids developed an obsession or even a deep love for old movies. I tried! I really tried! I think I would have been more successful if I'd had this book to guide me.

"I did feel somewhat gratified that my kids had seen a fair amount of the movies he lists. Not a ton, but definitely more than most of their peers have, I think. They have even liked some of them! Yay! Just last year my daughter & I sat down & watched a Thin Man movie marathon on tv. She was surprised at how much she enjoyed them. She shouldn't have been because they are great movies, still super funny & Myrna Loy & William Powell make a perfect married couple. Goals!(well, not all the boozing, but otherwise, yeah, a great relationship to aim for)..."

From Mental Floss:

One day in a public speaking class at New York University, the professor had students compose an impromptu one-minute speech on this topic: If you were stranded on a desert island, what one item would you like to have? Sherwood Schwartz was a student in that class, and the question so intrigued him that it remained lodged in the back of his mind for many years.

After working for some time as a comedy writer for other shows, Schwartz decided to pitch his own idea for a sitcom. Thinking back to that desert island question, he thought it would make for an interesting dynamic to have a group of very dissimilar individuals stranded together and have to learn to live and work together. The island would be 'a social microcosm and a metaphorical shaming of world politics in the sense that when necessary for survival, yes we can all get along,' Schwartz explained in Inside Gilligan's Island: From Creation to Syndication. Schwartz quickly discovered after his first few pitch meetings that words like 'microcosm' and 'metaphor' were not very helpful when trying to sell a comedy.

Btw, if my grandparents ever liked any NEW music from their youth, they never said a word about that. My grandmother was a little younger than Frank Sinatra, but she couldn't stand his music; she called it "sappy." (But how many fans did he ever have who were close to his age, anyway?)

She did, however, like the murder mysteries of her youth, such as those by Dorothy L. Sayers - I saw them around the house. So if I'd ever gotten into murder mysteries, she wouldn't have accused me of wasting my reading time - but I never did get into them.