Social Media Linkdump Sept-Oct 2024

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BAD WITH MONEY. I realize that everybody is more focused on the (masterful) debate performance by Harris in exposing DJT’s empty cynical lies. But today I am more interested in how quickly the value of DJT’s scam stock will fall over the next week. I imagine that the kind of people who think DJT stock will retain its value are the same kind who believe that immigrants are stealing your pets or that Kamala Harris is a Marxist.

HORRAY FOR GANDER! There are many ways to remember 9/11 today, but let me mention the wonderful and heart-warming musical production “COME FROM AWAY” (streamable for free on Apple+) which tells the unconventional story of air travelers diverted to a small Canadian airport on that day because all American airports had been closed. The original cast were brilliant and entertaining, and the story itself so strange and funny that you would never think it could capture the chaos of that week. Yet it does so, and still manages to be entertaining. Here’s a reunion of the original cast singing a few of the songs (YT)

ALSO: It can be hard to find on streaming networks because of the boring title, but the defining documentary about that day is without a doubt “9/11: FIFTEEN YEARS LATER” (streamable on MAX) directed by and starring the Naudet brothers. The Naudet brothers were two French filmmakers in NYC to film a documentary about the life of their firefighters. They filmed almost everything about 9/11, including footage inside the Twin Towers after the planes had hit the building. Tastefully done and absolutely riveting! (The film is actually called “9/11”, but on MAX its title is “9/11: FIFTEEN YEARS LATER”)

Trump lost the debate because of epistemic closure.

Electoral-vote says that “Fundamentally, Trump’s strategy is to lie about everything on the assumption that his base doesn’t realize that he is lying. When a neutral moderator calls him out, Trump goes bonkers because that upsets his whole strategy.”

Matt Haughey notes on a mastadon post:

missed the debate so I watched an hour of clips from late night and political shows and realized I had to watch the actual debate in full.

Trump floods the zone with so much disinformation even MSNBC and The Daily Show can’t capture most of it.

Rewatching it, I was amazed at the unhinged things he said that no one even quoted last night because there were so many bigger absurd things he did.

She played him like a fiddle. It was great to see a lawyer draw a witness into self-incrimination.

FYI, I’m all over mastadon and haven’t visited Twitter more than once a month. The problem is, Mastadon still doesn’t have a lot of regular posters. Also I haven’t quite grasped how to quote people without being too self-promotional. But at least the people on Mastadon are honest, intelligent and not dominated by bots or shitpostings.

Here’s a funny/annoying/Australian comedy sketch Rolald Backison Verbal Assault System
(Love the fake Australian accent).

INSURER FRAUD IN FLORIDA. I was shocked to watch this 60 minutes report about how some insurance companies in Florida have been rewriting damage reports by insurance adjustors to significantly reduce the amount paid. It’s unclear how widespread this practice is in Florida — or anywhere else — but it points to the need to have better oversight — and perhaps have criminal as well as civil penalties. (YT)

Here’s an interesting and informative piece by Jonathan Alter about Carter’s presidency and last decade of charity work. “My mother [Lillian] went into the Peace Corps when she was 68 years old, my one sister [Gloria] is a motorcycle freak, my other sister [Ruth] is a holy roller evangelist, and my brother is running for president. I’m the only sane one in the whole damn family.” (Billy Carter in 1975)

Here’s a fun Halloween-themed illustration commissioned by the Democratic challenger in my congressional TX-22 district. Political issues are no laughing matter, but I’m glad to see a little levity. PS my current congressman Troy Nehls once called Trump the “greatest president we have had in our lifetimes.”(Newsmax, Aug 13, 2022) I looked up the artist Stefan Poag — he has lots of other wild drawings. Here’s a higher resolution version of that great political haunted house.

MUST READ. Progressive columnist Nick Kristof criticizes Biden for continuing to send weapons to Israel without conditions. QUOTE: “Biden’s failure to apply enough leverage — or perhaps even uphold American law — has damaged other interests the White House cares about, including support for Ukraine. Hypocrisy alerts go off in foreign capitals when American diplomats hail the ‘rules-based international order’ and simultaneously provide the bombs that destroy Gazan civilian infrastructure and induce starvation. ”

AUTOCRACY IN AMERICA podcast is an excellent look at how Trump and Company have been following the autocracy playbook from other countries. (The latest episode talks about how autocrats repurpose the word “freedom” to make it serve their purposes). Applebaum recently published AUTOCRACY, INC . which I’ve started recently.

SPREADING HATE: Quite apart from the fact that it is un-Christian and offensive to demonize and denigrate transgender people of all ages, GOP’s reliance on anti-transgender ads during this election campaign reveals just how intellectually vapid their political ideas are. Just to name a few off the top of my head Climate change, health care, economic growth, immigration reform and strengthening foreign alliances strike me as much more important to the American people than the specific nature of some people’s genitals.

Colbert did a great roundup of the political appearances of Harris and Trump. Pay special attention to the woman at the 9 minute 45 second mark (that’s destined to go viral, I’m sure). (YT)

On that same night, Colbert did a great sketch about youth slang. Yes, it drives me crazy too! (YT)

On Slate’s Amicus podcast, there’s an interview with Matthew Seligman, an election law expert about the various ways that bad actors could bring about a victory of their presidential candidate. Seligman has been talking about a conspiracy theory rampant on Fox News and other conservative outlets that illegal aliens will be stealing the November election.

Amazingly, this chart is already out of date; Texas just added 200,000 more voters to the voters roll in the last few weeks, making the total 18.6 million. (Source: Houston Chronicle/Off the Kuff)

23 Nobel-winning Economists Prefer Harris’s Economic Plan over Trump’s. ““While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that, overall, Harris’ economic agenda will improve our nation’s health, investment, sustainability, resilience, employment opportunities, and fairness and be vastly superior to the counterproductive economic agenda of Donald Trump,”

Here’s a nice takedown of Project 2025 — in comic book form.

ODD/AMUSING AMPHIBIAN DRAMA. You may already know about the viral 30 second vid showing a frog playing video game on a mobile phone (It’s great!). Here is a wonderful and compelling 9 minute video by a pet/aquarium freak about how he raised a frog for the specific purpose of teaching it how to play video games. I love this guy’s YouTube channel; it’s a new take on teaching people about the population of creatures outside our own. (YT)

NO POLITICS ON FACEBOOK — WHY?! I realize that I’m more politically dialed in than most people, but I am struck by how rarely politics are mentioned on FB on the WEEK BEFORE A CRUCIAL NATIONAL ELECTION!! Instead I see ads and the usual “Facebook Slop” (random anonyously written articles that seems curiously targeted to my demographic). Contrast this with MASTADON (more of an academic/intellectual social media network) which brings my attention to lots of articles and opinions — and other cultural things posted by ACTUAL LIVING PEOPLE. As recently as 2 weeks ago, my FB feed was flooded with lots of political ads, but now it’s flooded with SEINFELD memes and random trivia about celebrities. Thanks, but no thanks.

RECOMMENDATION: LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (Netflix) is not a horror movie … or is it? It’s a mystifying movie about something strange. Outstanding cast, and it will keep you on your feet. I enjoyed watching this weird and unpredictable movie. Days later, I figured out a flaw in the plot which I won’t mention, but it’s still a great Halloween or (pre-Halloween) watch. P.S. Don’t watch the trailer — it’s better to be surprised!)

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN: I predict that Trump (and Musk and friends) will sell ALL their shares of DJT stock on election day (November 5) or the day after.

When I posted that remark about DJT stock on social media, I included this video (YT) which is a Precious Roy sketch from my favorite 1990s show Sifl & Olly (W). I compiled a YT Playlist of almost all the Precious Roy sketches. You’re welcome.


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