Well, pretty much one thing has dominated the news this week: Roseanne Barr’s idiocy.
1). Stupidity, Barr none. I don’t have to go into detail about her racist tweet, except to say that when you compare a black person to a monkey, that’s Racism 101. It doesn’t get any more down to earth racist than that. Yet that was the action she took, without thinking at all about the blowback her comments would have against her cast and crew. Two hundred people are out of work because she had to make a tweet.
Keep in mind that there was nothing to be accomplished by this. Twitter is useful for one thing only: getting word out about stuff you want to promote. You don’t get paid for it. You just use it to accomplish stuff, and the number of people who have accomplished damage with it is rising. Trump is effectively committing career suicide with it, yet still he has managed not to have it be fatal, and Barr apparently thought that she was likewise impervious. She was not.
And no, this is not a First Amendment issue. If she’d been arrested, yes. But ABC is a private company and they can do whatever they want. And if Barr signed a contract with a morals clause, which she probably did, then it’s game over.
So since this space focuses on Trump, we should examine how he reacted. After all, he did call her to congratulate her on her show’s ratings because ratings are all he understands. And Barr is both a loud Trump supporter and embracer of all the insane conspiracy theories you’ve ever heard. So how did he react to her racist tweet?
He didn’t.
What he did react to was the fact that he has been lampooned on ABC and no apology has been forthcoming “to President Donald J. Trump.” Because he is once again referring to himself in the third person, like a modern day Ming the Merciless. Trump once again missed a golden opportunity to try and prove he isn’t a racist. Why did he miss it? Well, because he’s a racist. Ultimately you really couldn’t have expected anything else.
For all we know, he’ll offer Barr a job in the White House.
Meanwhile he continues to demand that ABC issue an apology. Fine. I think ABC should say, “We are sorry Donald Trump is president.”
2). Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself.. According to the Washington Post, Trump has made false or misleading statements over 3000 times in his first five hundred days, including thirty five whoppers at his recent rally alone. His most major recent one is that he flat out said he did not fire James Comey over Russia, even though he told Lester Holt of NBC he did exactly that not two days after the firing. It becomes increasingly obvious why his people don’t want him testifying before Robert Mueller. It is not simply a certainty that he will lie under oath; it’s just a matter of how much. And considering perjury is a flat out reason for impeachment as we well know, the only question will be whether the GOP will justify it on Trump’s behalf even though they used it to go after Clinton. Why are we even wondering? Of course they will justify it.
3). Pardon me.. Trump’s pardon train continues as he pardons Dinesh D’Souza, a right wing conservative jáçkášš who made an anti-Obama documentary and, oh yes, pled guilty in 2014 to making illegal campaign contributions. While Trump loudly decries the non-existent false voters who cost him the popular election, apparently he has no trouble with voter interference if it’s from a far right winger who did it on behalf of a Republican candidate. Really no surprise there.
Who did he NOT pardon? Alice Marie Johnson, a Black great grandmother who Kim Kardashian brought to his attention. In 1996 she was sentenced to serve life in prison for a non-violent first offense drug crime. That’s insane. But she is Black and it happened in Tennessee, so what else would you expect? She continues to rot in prison for a clear overreaction to her crime and Trump did nothing to set her free. If he revisits it in the future and releases her, that will fall into the “Did he do anything right?” category. Let’s see him do one thing to prove he’s not a racist.
Did he do anything right?. Amazingly, he did. (Yes, Luigi, I knew about this.). On Wednesday he signed into law a bill that would enable experimental medicines to be used on terminal patients. Although Democrats assert that it will falsely raise hopes, and the Koch Brothers support it–which alone should be something to cause alarm–I honestly do not see the harm in this. They’re terminal. What in the world do they have to lose?
PAD
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I think an argument against the experimental drugs is that it could put pressure on poor people to experiment with their health. You could imagine a scenario where Drug Company A hasn’t gone through clinical trials yet and offers a poor family $5k to try their drug. Knowing that $5k is important, they’d be more willing to opt in to it than someone who has the means to try costly and more proven treatments. In the long term this could lead to abuse of the FDA’s ability to regulate treatments.
I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely has abuse potentials.
Chris, you have a point – and your example could be considered in line with previous experience.
But if this person – poor or not – is terminal, is there really very much to lose? Possibly blowback on the patient’s family, somehow. But if there are no options, why not try anything?
Question that’s Trump-centric but somewhat off this particular week’s topic, but that I can’t get a straight answer for:
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How in the world is a non-disclosure agreement enforceable if it covers up a crime, especially if that crime is a felony, ESPECIALLY if that felony is treason? Wouldn’t one have a moral and patriotic duty to report it, and not doing so would be a crime? Wouldn’t the crime of obstruction overcome the risk of being sued for violating the NDA? And in return for “turning state’s evidence” or whatever it’s called in the real world, couldn’t you negotiate that you be protected from such lawsuits?
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A teacher in college used to call this a “natural seemin'” law…one that SHOULD make sense but isn’t the case thanks to our great legal system…
I find myself a bit torn on the recent controversy over Samantha Bee’s admittedly vulgar swipe at Ivanka. On the one hand, it was pretty awful to say, but I also don’t think it was anywhere near as bad as Barr’s racist comment. I certainly don’t want to see Full Frontal go away, as it brings to light things we definitely need brought to the light…
I guess it comes down to how you feel. Do you think one woman’s racism is equally as bad as another woman’s insult towards a single person?
At the risk of contributing to whataboutism, it’s also disingenuous in some contexts to take umbrage at Bee’s comment. Why? Because in 1994, Ted Nugent referred to Hillary Clinton as a “toxic c-u-next-Tuesday.” Bee apologized for the profanity within 24 hours. Nugent still hasn’t after 24 years.
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In addition, neither 45, his campaign personnel, nor his supporters seemed overly bothered by t-shirts worn by some of his supporters that read “She’s a c*nt. Vote for Trump.”
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–Daryl
The two aren’t really comparable. For example, Valerie Jarrett isn’t actually an ape.
” I certainly don’t want to see Full Frontal go away, as it brings to light things we definitely need brought to the light…”
Perhaps so, but I wouldn’t miss it. Caught maybe thirty seconds of one episode and it killed me off it. I had the misfortune of having parents who could quite effectively express emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other … without sinking in the gutter to do so. As such, folk who seem to feel they need to resort to vulgarity to get their point across don’t impress me.
“They’re terminal. What in the world do they have to lose?”
Speaking as someone battling stage four cancer, this is sadly accurate. At least more access to clinical trials provides more hope — and, hopefully, longer lives.
For what very little it may be worth: never give up. My father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “Get your affairs in order” type of stuff. Didn’t care for that script. Lived fifteen years. Never give up.
Here’s a reason to think Trump didn’t do right with the drug law: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/new-drug-access-law-intended-to-weaken-fda-according-to-lawmaker-behind-it/
I’m shocked. Shocked i tell you!”
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A not-really-admitted secondary intention of the “Patriot” Act was union-busting…
Curious to hear comments on the additional news items from the last week:
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trump’s Memorial Day tweet
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Willingness to assist ZTE
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Steel and Aluminum tariffs on allies.
…and Clinton didn’t even commit perjury
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He did lie under oath, yes – but that’s only perjury if it’s in regard to a material matter, and a judge ruled that it wasn’t.
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{You also have to KNOW that what you’re saying is not true – so Trump might actually get off the hook, since he obviously has no idea what the truth is from moment to moment.}
Glossed over in all of this is the fact that ABC saw fit to return Roseanne to television in the first place. The only thing she’s done since the show went off the air the first time was stir up the occasional controversy.
Back when the show was originally on, I didn;t care for it because I found her character annoying. Now there’s talk of bring back the show but with out her. “The Connors” might actually be watchable….
It looks like this might end up being a spin-off featuring Sara Gilbert and her Darlene character–if it happens.
And now this :
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/donald-trump-pardon-tweet/index.html
There are not enough walls in the world for my head right now.
It looks like Trump didn’t do right with the drug law.