956 Worldwide

I smiled at “buttheads” but then things got really sad. It’s a good letter but the salutation really was a head fake, “buttheads” might fit some sort of fixable billing shenanigans but denying pediatric chemo patients anti-nausea meds earns at the very least “dickheads.”

I guess we are at an impasse because I don’t see a significant upside to constantly exposing the most oatmeal-brained Americans to a steady stream of stupid and fake unfiltered bullshit. It’s hard to tell though, not like we are running this experiment in real time.

The issue here is that given the breadth of topics and Rogan’s audience, none of them have the frame of reference to begin applying skepticism appropriately. Ordinarily we have “journalists” who “prepare for an interview” and “ask informed questions” to help the consumer apply that skepticism. Here’s a simple informed question: “You referenced your role in government working in the online communications space. You were appointed politically in late November 2020 and your last day was no later than January 20 , 2021. The State Department never even posted your biography. Do you think you had enough time in the role to fully grasp the policy and history?” But that question won’t get asked, because Joe Rogan is the info op, not the Atlantic Council. And you’re the target.

That wasn’t in the snippet I went to and I’m done listening to Rogan and Benz’ meandering slop and synthesizing their assertions and arguments. Feel free to do so if you want a response, I left a template up thread. I can’t work off of this and a copy pasta from Wikipedia about a historical event. My gut is to say that Benz opened the podcast with a complete fabrication and he used to run an anonymous Nazi account, so whatever he says is likely bullshit.

I think the subsequent responses (redirecting you to smaller snippets of a podcast) reveals that the answer is “no.” Here is where I will say that the preferred brand of conservative and alt media (hours of audio slop, TV yelling, bloviatkng with no pushback) actually damages consumers’ ability to synthesize information and identify theses and supporting arguments. So I’ll do it for him: Benz claims that at Atlantic Council journalist seminar aimed at training people to recognize and respond to disinformation is part of the U.S. government censorship apparatus. He is concerned that the framework presented, which tells journalists to be aware of how information ops use tactics of Dismissal, Distraction, Distortion, and Dismaying. Benz rejects this framework because none of those tactics involve the deployment of actual “false” information and alleges that Atlantic Council is advocating for censorship of political viewpoints. He objects to the use of a DJT tweet and Brexit slogan a case studies for the framework at the training. A coherent response might be: 1. Rhetoric that uses tactics of distortion, dismissal, destruction and dismaying is a feature of info ops and the Atlantic Council does not suggest banning the tactics. Rather, it is equipping journalists to recognize and probe this type of rhetoric, not to simply repeat it mindlessly. This isn’t censorship, it is the opposite, it is building the foundation for challenging, critical, and open discussion. 2. The audience (journalists and fact-checkers) are not in a position to censor or silence people and Benz does not demonstrate how this session leads to tech censorship. The audience members are only in a position to question people, which is an important element of free speech. 3. Using DJT or Brexit as an example could be seen as ill-considered given that the session is funded with U.S. grants. On the flip side, given that it was filmed in 2019, it could be seen as evidence of grants working as intended: a third party training that equips journalists to ask hard questions and criticize even the U.S. and its allies when warranted, and defending the principles of fee and healthy debate rather than serving a narrow political aim.

A classic of the genre, “can you listen to a 2:45 minute stream of bullshit and refute it point by point?” Benz lies within his opening salvo by claiming that the United States overthrew the government of Ukraine in a coup. An actual interviewer would have interjected— “you say that the U.S. was behind a coup in Ukraine, but that’s far from being broadly accepted as accurate. It’s been denied by the Ukrainian government, by the United States government, and there are multiple well-documented independent histories of the Maidan protests that would reject what you said. Can you speak more to why we should believe you?” Rogan is a good example of how idiots believe a lack of bias should work in media and an example of how broke-brains incapable of thinking confuse assertions with evidence and fact.

Very little special forces training involves prepping to gun people down on city streets and flee via bicycle. When Mossad whacks people in places where they really don’t want to get caught they use teams of a dozen people with fake passports, governments solve things with lots of people and lots of money. There is not a stable of super badass former MI6 assassins out there waiting for clients to buzz their encrypted phones. Consulting pays so much more and you don’t go to jail. Contract killers are just criminals who don’t have other options and usually get caught.

Lots of speculation but we all just need to wait for the explanation of benefits here.

“Hello, Senator? Yes, this is Mrs. Hesgeth, Pete’s mom. I just want to let you know that Pete has really been trying hard and applying himself. He really wants to be Secretary of Defense. It’s all he can talk about. I know that there’s some things on his permanent record. Please remember that he was having a tough time in 35th through 37th grade. It’s a difficult age and we all have growing pains.”

lol. “Mom, can you can the senate and tell them I’d be a good SecDef?”

Yeah, Joni Ernst is not gonna confirm Party Pete.

In very much related news, Anthem announced today that they will stop paying for anesthesia if a procedure goes over planned time.

Kash is threatening lawsuits against people who say things he doesn’t like on TV, so we can be pretty clear what he’ll do when he runs the FBI.

You need to have two-factor authentication to order a chicken sandwich through the app but it turns out US telecoms only have cyber-security “recommendations.” The Chinese are also still watching me type this real time.

I like to imagine the shooter saying something like “looks like you went out of network” as he strolls away.

Lost in the pro-versus amateur discourse is the fact that the first and usually only qualification to be a “pro” hitman is “willingness to kill people for money.”

Which also happens in junior high to smart kids. Take this written exchange: “Rep. Burlison asked if the Secretary was concerned about electric vehicle fires that are difficult to suppress. The Secretary pointed out that gasoline vehicles also have a significant fire risk while also emitting deadly pollutants that impact Americans.” Cool. Reasonable discourse. Sec. Pete seems right, no one is embarrassed, we got to the facts. But on tv or social media every dumb person is remembering a time a teacher or some smart kid made them feel dumb and how awful it was to stammer and stutter and realize you’re being embarrassed. And they’re moving to Team Dumbass Burlison out of spite.

I think Democrats need to understand that a great many stupid people will watch that and come away angry at the smart person who made the dumb person look stupid because they sympathize with the dumb person. Most people didn’t like and resented the smart kids. I’m convinced that the real damage caused by social media and the 24/7 news cycle is allowing so many dumb people close access to other dumbs that they can identify with instead of letting journalists filter that stuff through a more neutral lens.

Tucker is back in Moscow where he’s announced that we are in a hot war with Russia, that Americans are firing missiles into Russia, and did an interview with Sergei Lavrov. I won’t link, screenshot only. This fuck, broadcasting from Red Square, blaming America.

My first question is what must he be hiding in his closet. But honestly, if he withdrew because being a county sheriff is a much better job than head of the DEA under DJT and may even pay better.

That whole list is amazing. “The President and senate confirmed cabinet officials are engaged in a deep state conspiracy with multiple executive branch employees.”

I visited the Republican Women site and it brought the lulz.

Kash Patel published a list of “Deep State” members and included the current President of the United States. LOL the intellect we are confronted with is truly dizzying.