Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Idiot of the Week Social Media Freak Division

My daughter and I are planting carrots for the winter and spinach and radishes.  And Betty shared a science story with her that she wants me to include:


 Imagine an object so terrifying that its mere sound could make your blood run cold — a sonic weapon designed to disrupt the brain and induce pure dread. This isn’t the plot of some horror movie, researchers say it’s actually ancient history! Their new study is revealing the shocking secrets of the Aztec death whistle.
A team from the University of Zurich examined these skull-shaped artifacts, uncovering how the Aztecs may have used sound as a psychological tool during their most sacred and brutal rituals.
When blown, the death whistle produces a sound so unsettling that listeners today describe it as “extremely chilling and frightening.” Unlike any musical instrument we know in modern times, these whistles create a sound that eerily mimics a human scream — a calculated design that seems purposefully horrifying.

Now let me do an Idiot of the Week Social Media Freak Division.

It goes to White Karen -- the Ultimate White Karen.  Karen F. Duncan.  She's a stupid woman.    She tried to be a blogger.  Like Peter did on FAMILY GUY.






You think I'm making this up?  Her blog is titled "Karen F. Duncan: Life in the Time of Cornoavirus."



Like Peter, she was all "never forget."  Like Peter she was lazy and stupid which is why her blog only had 13 posts.  


When not blogging, White Karen likes to be on BLUE SKY and X.   Mainly, I'm guessing, to show what happens when women don't wear bras and their boobs hang down to their bellies.  (Yes, Karen, my balls will sag with age, but you won't catch me wearing a tight sweater around them the way you do with your saggy boobs.)  


She likes the disgusting David Sirota.  Remember when he attacked Cloy's mom Tina?  Remember that great Sirota moment.  A wounded veteran and his mother.  And they had the 'nerve' (common sense) to call out Davey Sirota's boss (David Obey) and so Davey Sirota stamped his feet and had a hissy fit and attacked and insulted her online.  That's the type of person White Karen Duncan loves.  She loves a man who attacks a mother who is just trying to defend her son and stop an illegal war.  

White Karen is so disgusting.  I took another look, her boobs actually hang down below her waist.  Is that some nod to Carol Burnett's Stella Todler?


This is her idea of sounding informed:

Journalism died a long time ago it’s time for Democrats to invest in and support a sustained media ecosystem that can go toe to toe with the right wing ecosystem that has powerfully amplified the Republican talking points while drowning out our messaging.



Uhm, dummy, that's why AIR AMERICA RADIO was created.  It's why INDYMEDIA was created.  It's why PACIFICA RADO was created.  There was also NOVA M RADIO and IE AMERICAN RADIO NETWORK (which was with UAW).


She's so stupid.  She has no sense of history.  She's just a dumb and annoying idiot.  She's blaming trans rights because she's such a damn fool.

Trans rights, she insists, cost Kamala the election.  She got into that fight online with a guy I know.  That's how I first learned of her.

No, you stupid, stupid, idiot.  First off, Kamala has 48.3% of the vote and Satanic Trump has 50%.  That's probably going to grow to an even smaller difference once California finishes counting -- 6% of the votes to go. Oregon and Washington together have another 6% of the vote to count.  Colorado and New York together also have 6% of the vote left to count.

For someone who was not the nominee at the start of July and only became the nominee in August?  That's damn impressive.

And we don't need to be throwing trans people under the bus.

She's got an answer!!!! The looney has an answer!!!!


Media!!!!!

Idiot, Media is what hurt Kamala. And I don't mean THE NEW YORK TIMES or THE WASHINGTON POST that you rail against.

Ava and C.I. covered this:



Before the voting began, weeks and weeks before, they were explaining what was happening.

And I think even Karen, presented with reality, would agree this was what happened.


COMMON DREAMS spent all of August and September and 1/2 of October attacking Kamala every day.  This included 'Democrat' Norman Solomon's column announcing that he was voting for Jill Stein.  (Norman pulled that back when C.I. spoke with those who donate to Norman's ridiculous organization -- all the sudden he was for Kamala after he learned donations were going to go elsewhere).

Karen, imagine you're a lefty but not a Democrat.  And you go to COMMON DREAMS each day and each day everything Kamala does is evil and wrong.

Now grasp that was just COMMON DREAMS.  At THE NATION, only Joan Walsh and John Nichols wrote positively about Kamala and they did not write every day.  But every day THE NATION attacked Kamala online with a Gaza piece or a healthcare piece or a this piece or a that piece and did so daily in August, September, October and November.  Grasp that.  Grasp that they let the 'interns' (really Katrina vanden Heuvel - publisher of the rag - tell them what to write) do an editorial against Kamala.  

I'm not done, Karen.

THE PROGRESSIVE?  One article attacking Kamala after another.  She never got a word of praise.  IN THESE TIMES?  Not one article ever praising her.  Daily visits to those websites would tell you how awful Kamala Harris was.

Still not done.  

DEMOCRACY NOW!  Segment after segment in August on Kamala -- each one attacking her.  Same in October up to the 30th.  Then Amy found one group that liked her.  Then back to trashing her.  


As Ava and C.I. argued in real time, this was going to depress turnout.  People were excited about Kamala's run.  But day after day, trusted left outlets attacked her.

Again, I think Karen could grasp that.  The fact that these attacks were intended to harm her -- Amy Goodman and DEMOCRACY NOW! helped elect Donald Trump, let's be honest.  That was the plan, to attack her.  They didn't do this to Barack Obama.  These same outlets -- as Black women across the net have noted -- treated Barack's run as something to celebrate.  But when it was a Black woman?  

And grasp the racism in this.  A Black woman -- more than qualified -- runs and they savage her and they attack her.  This was racism and the left needs to stop pretending it doesn't have any racism.  

It has plenty.  And Karen might try writing about that.  But she apparently doesn't know about. She doesn't know about the vacation Black women are taking because they (rightly) feel betrayed and stabbed in the back.

That's what happened.  

And maybe if Karen wasn't so enthralled with David Sirota (a man who also did not elevate Kamala's campaign but trashed it regularly) and actually consumed social media created by Black women, I wouldn't need to be pointing this out to her?  Myself?  I've always loved Olay.  Through C.I.'s work, I've begun to love TABITHA SPEAKS and Danielle Moodie.  

Karen, you might not be an idiot.

You clearly think you're educated.  But you're not.  You think media is the answer -- but you don't know what the media did -- media supported and funded by Democrats -- to Kamala.  

Picture yourself being bombarded with this anti-Kamala message over and over.  The attacks on her from Jill Stein and the Gaza Freaks (Gaza Freaks is not people who want to help Palestinians -- Gaza Freaks are Americans -- Muslim or not, Arab or not -- who were willing to risk the lives of Palestinians to try to make a point that would help no one).  Left media that picked up those attacks and used that framework.  I've noted some above.  But that's not all.  THE MAJORITY REPORT repeatedly attacked her over Palestine.  As did THE LEFTIST MEDIA and SECULAR TALK and THE HUMANIST REPORT and . . . 

It never ended.  And as C.I. noted, these outlets should have been educating voters, not steering them away from Kamala.  The US relationship with Israel is a historic one.  To change that relationship was going to take a lot more work than any of the Gaza Freaks had done.  

Just not in the mood for Karen -- especially her conclusion that the media is the answer.


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Tuesday, November 18, 2024.  The exodus from Twitter continues, the silence on Black women also continues, Hegseth is not qualified for the role of Secretary of Defense, and much more.



You ready to get off Elon Musk's plantation?




. Elon Musk was born and grew up in South Africa and he loved it.  Until apartheid began to crumble.  The thought of Black people having the same rights as he did caused him to flee South Africa.  The racism is ingrained in him and that's the only 'free speech' that he ever tolerates.

THE GUARDIAN, The Free Press, Gabrielle Union, Jamie Lee Curtis and so many others are doing the right thing and leaving the racist's social media.  He's lost money on Twitter but that doesn't matter to him because he has influence as long as he owns it -- if it remains popular.  If we leave it, it's over.  It's nothing but a nest of racists, sexists and homophobes and then it has no cachet and popularity.  

Over on Blue Sky . . .












"I-I-I-I-I-I Ain't Gonna Tweet on TWITTER (Ava and C.I.)" -- let's all say goodbye to X and to Twitter and to racists who actively work to destroy our lives.



Let me note one more to join Bluesky.



I called Alyssa out two weeks ago for not being on BlueSky.  Now the reason most give me is that they're afraid they'll lose their following.  Most of the people refusing to budge -- racist Katrina vanden Heuvel of THE NATION, for example, don't have a following.  Alyssa built up her TWITTER following and has huge numbers.  Knowing Alyssa,  I doubt she's stopped Tweeting but at least she's also gone to BLUESKY.  And I will say thank you and I will applaud.  

Or I will applaud those of you going to BlueSky.  

If, on the left, we can't even do that -- and do it to oppose racism, sexism and homophobia -- it says a great deal about our lack of priorities.  

Run X into the ground and Elon Musk is just another ugly man with ass hair implanted on his scalps and jowls.  


Now let's note this from Reshonda Tate on THE DEFENDER NETWORK.
 



Community member Keesha weighed in on that video above noting that this is the big story of the post-election period "but no Democracy Now segment, nothing on The Majority Report or at The Progressive or In These Times or The Nation.  The same outlets that ignored us in the lead up to the election are ignoring Black women after the election.  I guess they couldn't do all their lying if they had to listen to Black women.  So they just ignore us instead.  I'm registering and I doubt I'm the only one who is."

It is very hard to ignore the silencing that's taking place.

An e-mail to the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) is from a woman asking how long she should sit it out?  You'll know when -- and if -- you're ready to take part again.  Some will need longer to take care of themselves and to heal.  Some will never come back (and I don't blame you if that's what you need to do).  

This is a very important time and you need to take care of you because the 'left' has demonstrated that they won't -- not just before the election but also, as Keesha points out, after as well.

Don't let them steal your joy -- we've all heard it.

But damned if they didn't try, right?

Kamala was the first Black woman to run for the presidency on a major ticket.  And to even be joyful about that brought attacks from others.  Brought nonsense about Gaza.  

Most political nominees aren't tasked with solving the world's problems before they're even elected president.  Not so with Kamala.  She had to solve everything and please everyone and do so before she was in the Oval Office.

Yeah, let's pretend like she was being judged by the same standard.  That's what so many on the left who helped derail her campaign want us to believe. 

We're not that stupid.

We grasp that every column attacking her, every segment attacking her, every speech attacking her was devaluing her -- intentionally devaluing her.  

And they try to act like she's the failure.

My state's still got 6% of the vote to count but per the official results nationwide right now, Kamala got 48.3% to Trump's 50%.  

That's a less than 2% difference.  For a candidate who had to hit the ground running in August.

But don't the White men like Seth Prissy Moulton want to attack.  Hey, Seth, unlike you, she had a general election opponent.  You didn't.  So you should have gotten 100% of the vote -- running uncontested.  But you didn't, did you?

So maybe you're the last White windbag that needs to be speaking right now and maybe people need to grasp that when you speak -- running unopposed, he couldn't even get 100% of the vote this time. 


Let's note Satanic Trump's unqualified nominees.  Pete Hegseth is not qualified to be the secretary of any department.  You didn't have to go left to find a qualified candidate.  There are people serving in leadership of the military that could have been elevated.  There are people in the Senate who are Republicans who would be qualified -- Joni Ernst, Mike Rounds, Roger Wicker, Bill Cassidy, etc. 

They have the knowledge base.  Hegseth doesn't have the knowledge base or the experience.  What he does have is a sad and drunken assault.  It was seven years ago.  It is not the distant past.  He was 37 years old.  David Kurtz (TPM) notes:


More details emerged over the weekend about the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of defense.

The WaPo was first with extensive new information about the circumstance of the alleged sexual assault, based on (i) a memo it obtained that was provided to the Trump transition team late Wednesday by a friend of the victim; and (ii) a statement from Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore.

The woman later reported the alleged assault to police, but no charges were ever filed:

According to the police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the encounter, and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police report itself was not released.

Hegseth settled the woman’s claim for an undisclosed amount, and she signed a nondisclosure agreement.

Trump is standing by Hegseth in the face of the undisclosed settlement of the sexual assault claim.


That's reason enough not to confirm him.

But he's also not qualified for the job.


He shouldn't be confirmed.  He shouldn't even be nominated.  He's not fit to oversee the Pentagon -- he does not have the background.  If the nomination was to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I'd have a few problems -- mainly around the issues of female veterans.  And I would also question his ability to oversee any department because he just doesn't have that experience -- not in his military service and not in his civilian experience.


This is a huge department that is taxed with many, many duties including ensuring the US military is prepared.


What in Hegseth's past experience argues that he knows a thing about hiring or recruiting, for example?


The last Senate hearing on military readiness was eleven months ago. 

At that hearing, US Army Maj Gen Johnny Davis spoke on a number of topics including the statements below:


Today's youth are far more likely to pursue education beyond high school. Currently,
high school seniors and recent graduates account for more than 50% of our annual
contracts. However, they only represent 15-20% of the labor market. We will transform
our prospecting to expand into a greater representation of the labor market and enter
the larger prospect pool. In addition to the high school market, we will target those with
more than a high school diploma, this includes a college degree, some college, or a
technical certification. By FY 2028, it is our goal for one third of new recruits to have
more than a high school diploma.  We are growing our analytical capability to incentivize and position our recruiting force, tailor marketing based on segmentation, and place our recruiters in the right place with  the right training, products, and tools. Our quarterly Industry Engagement Program allows us to identify new tools to improve operations across the enterprise.
As we transform how the Army prospects for talent, we will continue to innovate and
leverage data analytics, artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) to quickly
identify the right talent and provide tailored messaging to potential talent. We are
expanding our presence on both social media and digital job boards to communicate the
Army's Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Expanding our market is critical to
accomplishing the mission today and in the future.



What does Hegseth know about hiring practices, recruitment and retention?  Nothing.  Can he address, off the top of his head, the issue of evidence-based learning capability?  Does he know what a command wide retention surge is?  If so, does he approve or does he think it's a waste of time.  Each of the four branches needs to be adequately staffed (the Air Force didn't make the goal in 2023).  How does Hegseth plan to address this.  Does he have an overall plan or is he going to propose piece meal strategies?


He wants this office why?  How does he see himself delivering in this office?  

Where does he stand on waivers?

Due to his plethora of body markings, I'd assume he is okay with tattoos.  But what about age restrictions -- what his top end for someone serving in combat?  On drug tests, what's his wait window on retesting -- 60 days, 90 days, less, more?  And why?  Drug testing does include testing for alcohol.  

ESaR has been a semi-successful recruiting tool for the Navy (Every Sailor a Recruiter).  Is that a policy Hegseth agrees with?  Why or why not?

The Navy's "Make Your Name" series has been successful in recruiting -- noting women's roles and experiences serving in the Navy.  It's a fairly inexpensive recruiting tool and it has been successful.  Does he endorse this recruiting tool?  If not, why not?  If not, is it because he has a limited view of what women can do in the military?

Grasp that -- without him -- women have been moving up in the ranks in the military.  Are these women going to hit a glass ceiling if he becomes the Secretary?  How is he planning to address these issues?  How is going to maintain the US military's competitive edge?


Guess what, those are very basic questions about basic duties and that's before we get beyond workforce issues.  I see nothing in his background that demonstrates experience with those type of issues.  

Again, we still haven't gotten to other issues that include oversight, combat, military exercises and partnering with the VA to improve the transition from veteran to soldier.  On that last one?  I don't think he has expertise but I think his experience -- personal -- could compensate for the lack of expertise.  I do not feel that way about any other responsibility that he would be tasked with should he become the Secretary of Defense. 

The US Army is supposed to be refocusing with an emphasis on LSCO (Large-Scale Combat Operations).  That is one of the defined 2025 goals.  Hegseth will pursue that how?


These are not minor details.  And you can't learn it on the job, not as Secretary of Defense.  That means being over the defense of this country so Americans are entitled to expect someone in that role to have actual experience.

Hegseth has none.

Again, this isn't a right-or-left issue.  There are Republicans who are qualified for this post.  Hegseth is not one of them.  Any sitting senator on the Armed Services Committee is qualified for the post.  

They would know the issues needing to be addressed before they were even sworn into office.

Hegseth doesn't know the issues, he's never overseen any workforce -- let alone a workforce as large as the Defense Dept -- and he would put military readiness at risk as the whole world had to wait for him to learn on the job and familiarize himself with tasks and concepts that he's honestly not suited for.




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