mtutiger

As far as Colbert goes, I am not worried about him, someone will hire him and get a foothold into his viewership. While CBS will be showing 30 minute timeshare ads after the 10:00 news lol

This is exactly right. My only point is there is risk as well insofar that doing things like pushing out the highest rated late night host on television (for transparently obvious reasons), gutting 60 minutes, etc. harms the brand to the point where the pros might not be worth the cons. Washington Post is a good example here - since October of last year, they are largely worse off as a brand and are getting their lunch money taken by the WSJ and the Times. Personally, I think these entities would be better off telling him to go **** off, particularly since he's proven time and again that even if you deal with him, he'll always come back and ask for more.

It's a sign that the people running Paramount don't have any balls or scruples. And we shouldn't be surprised if their business suffers for it in the long run. (see: law firms who settled with Trump vs. those who didn't)

It's meant to be a mock of Vance

I think it's important to remind ourselves that we are not only alone and that, despite him winning in November, the majority of people largely don't approve of this ****. And that success in a political sense needs to be measured; there's never going to be a moment where the scales just magically fall from people's eyes, that's not how our politics has ever been wired... even Bush in 2008 still retained around 30%. But that every little bit does count. As much flak as they got from various elites in social media, that's one of the values that No Kings brought in that it got people out and socializing with others who feel the same way. Probably the most discouraging thing, believe it or not, isn't the American public as a whole and how they have responded since January, it's the elites, particularly in media, who have shown themselves to have zero backbone or scruples. We all knew this was the case, but watching how the Paramount shakedown has played out, how really no price in the negotiation ever seems to be high enough for Trump, and how Shari Redstone keeps saying "thank you sir, may I have another" has been a real blackpill. Bill Paley and Ed Murrow would be rolling in their graves.

Colbert won't be unemployed for long, one would think

One thing noticed the past couple of nights is that local news (WGN) has gone long on unhinged clips from Trump/Leavitt the past couple of nights. I don't know if it means anything, but as an editorial decision, it's been a lot different than how they've generally covered Trump since returning to office.

Tbf to JV, Trump hasn't sounded that lucid in years so maybe I'll cut him some slack

"Does anyone believe this sounds like Donald Trump?" Uhh, yes?

Again, dude is working overtime to look as suspicious as possible re Epstein

Think this is probably right... He's seen his popularity decline and is doing a lot of unpopular stuff. The Epstein thing might be an offramp for some folks who have been uneasy with some of the actions but ultimately have stuck by Trump

I do think things are functionally different insofar that there are a bunch of tech guys who have since traded sides (ie. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Andreessen, etc.) that are absolutely weighing the scales towards the GOP now. And in terms of net wealth, these guys have are on another planet than almost everybody on your long list of people. And sure, you may say that I'm only pointing this out because of how these guys have changed her behavior, but I've always hated these ***holes

After watching Merrick Garland operate for four years, I kinda think this is the base case

In practical terms, they don't have the numbers or the political standing...

I have long thought that Epstein was less than meets the eye, but man, he's working overtime to make me question my priors

I don't know what to say.... I don't know why anyone would give money to the Times or Athletic until they fix their editorial issues.

I've been on the sidelines of the Epstein stuff for the most part... But an AG going out and saying there's a list, then contradicting themselves five months later? That would be a career killer in any other administration

Flashback:

I ran into this conversation shortly after the Minnesota shootings with a family member... Made a comment about how it might have been a left winger, and had to correct the comment. While they acknowledged they may have been wrong, when I commented about the fact that these guys lie through their teeth, lie as they breathe and that you cannot trust them (ie. GOP politicians, right wing radio), it ended up in some combination of "well, both sides are the same" and "nothing I can do, it's all in Jesus' hands" To be clear, I am a Catholic who, while not attending as much as I should, tries my best to adhere to the faith. If anything I have moved back toward the church over the past year. But I have a wife and two kids and want more than anything else to hand them over a better situation than the one I had when I was a kid. I feel like I do my best within the things that I can control, but I see that sort of nihilism and it enrages me. It's selfish, and when you read Matthew in particular, you begin to wonder what these guys think Jesus would think of their nihilism.

I would add that I caught a few clips of the press conference yesterday that Governor Abbott and other officials spoke at, including Kristi Noem... The amount of genuflecting toward the President at a time when people want details and information, it's just beyond words.

This is a moment when the feds having a scintilla of credibility matters a lot. I'm of the belief that this is more about local leaders pushing blame off the feds... But this government since Trump took office has squandered a lot of credibility by indiscriminately slashing budgets. Including at the very agencies that exist to provide accurate weather information to the public. It's the throughline to other discussions we have had on this board, including about immigration and deportations... But while disasters are a time when the federal government needs people to view them credibly, it's hard to blame anyone who has a hard time trusting the federal government right now. And that's a shame.

Click to read through the entire thread... But man, it says a lot about how far the Times has fallen as an organization. At the very minimum, they need to bring back an actual public editor to really stress test the pieces going out the door. Otherwise I don't understand how they retain any credibility

If you remove the references to Louisiana and Calvin Coolidge in Randy Newman's song "Louisiana 1927" and replace them with references to Texas's Hill Country and Donald Trump respectively, it lines up almost perfectly. He doesn't give a **** about any of those being impacted by these floods

I won't, I can tell you that right now. And I believe whoever comes after Trump has a moral obligation to attempt to fix the crisis that he's creating here.