Then you are not British and middle aged+. I made the comment for the benefit of those who would get it; no harm intended.
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were a pair of British comedians who become very famous indeed in the UK as a result of an act which is hard to describe (it’s harder for foreigners to understand than the Pythons) but Ernie set up the jokes and Eric made them, which was my point.
Morecambe was the one who did the clowning, and he is the one who has a bronze memorial - at Morecambe.
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As Masha said last year:
The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Many journalists may soon face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. There is no good solution (even if there is a right answer), for journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information.
The power of the investigative press—whose adherence to fact has already been severely challenged by the conspiracy-minded, lie-spinning Trump campaign—will grow weaker. The world will grow murkier. Even in the unlikely event that some mainstream media outlets decide to declare themselves in opposition to the current government, or even simply to report its abuses and failings, the president will get to frame many issues. Coverage, and thinking, will drift in a Trumpian direction, just as it did during the campaign—when, for example, the candidates argued, in essence, whether Muslim Americans bear collective responsibility for acts of terrorism or can redeem themselves by becoming the “eyes and ears” of law enforcement. Thus was xenophobia further normalized, paving the way for Trump to make good on his promises to track American Muslims and ban Muslims from entering the United States.
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
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Wonder how much this has to play in the recent election:
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Since the Democratic National Convention? Only from Sanders and Warren, nationally. The Resident’s splutterbutter and the DNC/RNC content-free appeals to establishment “decency” dominate the non-alt-right establishment. No real red meat anywhere but among the dispossessed.
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Like I always say, if you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention, and likely have nothing at stake either.
As far as appeals to decency, that’s gotta be some kind of logical fallacy. Groups such as the political establishment have no decency or morals, because they’re not human beings but amoral unthinking groups of human beings. Individual people may have decency, but group dynamics are a different story entirely.
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Will fallacy ever matter in political rhetoric? Sigh.
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There was a great line on Dead Ringers (satirical radio show) tonight
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Seen on Jezebel in the comments. It’s too good not to share:
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Have you noticed much change yet? (Asking because I haven’t but am trying to remain optimistic for the future.)
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Demosthenes: “[H]e who rehearsed his speeches was a true man of the people: for such preparation was a mark of deference to the people, whereas heedlessness of what the multitude will think of his speech marks a man of oligarchical spirit, and one who relies on force rather than on persuasion.”
That sums up the failures of both candidates of the last election. Clinton didn’t defer; Rump didn’t prepare and only defers only to the worst.
Deference won. That should be a lesson but it hasn’t yet taken with the RNC or DNC.
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No, but I’ve not been looking for it.
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I went looking for a “Being John Malkovich” parody of Trump, instead I found this probably disturbingly accurate SNL:
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Some interesting video footage in here I haven’t seen elsewhere.
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He has some form of dementia. I thought that was fairly obvious.
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It has been to me for a long time. My maternal grandmother died of Altzheimer’s and a lot of his behavior reminds me of her. These more recent videos of him wandering off and his recent, less coherent tweets seem to indicate he is getting worse.
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Alzheimer’s runs in my family as well. It can be masked for a while, and then it gets really bad really fast. Then it plateaus, then it gets even worse even faster.
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This may have been the closest attempt:
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I’m reluctant to jump to Alzheimers so quickly, but from what I saw in the video:
- there’s a pause where he’s behind the limo and we can’t see what he’s doing or saying
- when he strides off to the side, he’s walking quickly, confidently, head up.
I know the second behaviour is something people with dementia do to cover up (aka “I did that on purpose”). Trump, however, has a history of doing whatever the hell he wants and not caring if it holds everyone else up. He doesn’t suit presidential travel agendas that are planned and timed to the minute for both the photo op and for security.
There’s also a third option: that he’s cracking up but it’s not dementia.
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