October 3, 2020

"Wow. Not a word about Dilbert. I thought I could return to Althouse for the straight skinny on the bizarre Scott Adams meltdown. Guess there’s a lid on Dilbert."

Wrote jacksonjay, in last night's Sunrise Café.

It's more work to pick up an issue that is presented in audio. Am I supposed to transcribe and explain? It's not like blogging the written word, where I can cut and paste and edit down to what's important. When people speak in podcasts, they expand and repeat themselves, so even if I were willing to transcribe, I wouldn't get the kind of text I can get from the written word. So there's a big disincentive to blog.

As for this recent thing — which I take it is Adams's assertion the day after the debate that Trump just lost his vote by not denouncing white supremacy forcibly enough — I thought it was the audio equivalent of clickbait, so I had some resistance to it. I'm supposed to explain it and have a reaction to it? Why? Wait a day and everything changed. He explained that he didn't like that jerks of the left didn't welcome him into their fold, so he was back on Trump's side, because righties, being the unpopular kids, are happy to have anybody halfway like them.

Yeah, that's not a verbatim transcription. That's just my vague memory after listening to 2 or 3 podcasts. Podcasts are evanescent. The written word, now that's something. Just the other day on one of my podcasts — I forget which one — Meade and I were talking about how Trump has built real-world things that have to work and hold up, while the editors of the NYT could not even get from the beginning to the end of a single column without it collapsing into incoherence. The column metaphor was noted at the time. You see it when a physical thing like a building lacks structural integrity, but words are so strong, they stay there on the page exactly as written, no matter how irrational.

But in blogging, you can take that text and demonstrate what's wrong with it. You attack text with text. But if you're doing text — blogging — it's hard to get at anything other than text. It's a text-on-text endeavor, mostly. You could blog podcasts... but for the most part, that's a mug's game.

IN THE COMMENTS: Ralph L questioned jacksonjay's phrase "straight skinny":
The standard term is "inside skinny," though that's actually redundant because the skinny is always inside, and I doubt Althouse has any about Adams. It also implies written knowledge.
That made me look up "skinny" in the OED. The relevant meaning — "slang (originally and chiefly U.S.)" — which requires the "the" — is "Detailed and esp. confidential information about a person or topic, ‘the low-down’; (also more generally) news, gossip."
1938 R. Hallet Rolling World 287 Had she really given me the skinny of an actual legend from the archives of her race, or was she wafting me the native poetry of her soul?
1957 A. Myrer Big War 94 I'll cut you in on some hot skinnay.
1974 E. Brawley Rap (1975) ii. xxiii. 363 Come to lay some skinny on you that I picked up off the vine.
1979 D. Anthony Long Hard Cure xxi. 162 Who killed her, Butler? Let's have the skinny.
1980 ‘L. Cody’ Dupe xxiii. 165 Give them the skinny but keep the kudos.
2006 Loaded Dec. 168 We get the skinny on the hectic world of the Virgin Mobile Cup—and the TV show that's captured all the action.
Only one of those examples has an adjective between "the" and "skinny" and it's neither "straight" nor "inside" — it's "hot." So I don't think there's a "standard term," which, as Ralph acknowledges, would be redundant if it's "inside." I like "straight skinny" better, because it's not redundant and it's good alliteration... and because it makes me think of Olive Oyl.

She's hot skinny/hot skinnay....

95 comments:

tcrosse said...

Fred Allen wrote a book about his years in radio, and called it Treadmill to Oblivion, due to the hard labor and transience of it.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I lilove reading me some hot Althouse text-on-text action...

Chris said...

Scott was being sarcastic ffs. He knows how many times Trump has said as much, many times. Scott set a trap and a ton of idiots to the bait.

Tcdq1293 said...

I used to listen to Scott Adams during my walks. Having seen him on YouTube, I find his hand gestures mesmerizing.

chuck said...

Trump just lost his vote by not denouncing white supremacy forcibly enough

One of Adams' quirks is that he threatens people with his disapproval when they don't do what he wants. Happens a lot :)

doctrev said...

His claim that Trump lost his vote was a hoax, and was about as genuine as his claim to have voted for Hillary last election due to threats on his life.

It's transparent attention-seeking, but at least he wasn't scummy enough to have actually voted for Hillary.

Ken B said...

Adams does this stuff all the time. His “slaughtermeter” swings abruptly and then back. He avows then disavows the avows all the fricking time. It’s a way to get attention and “engagement” from his listeners. Adams sometimes makes really good, insightful points, but he is also randomly crazy.

Oso Negro said...

Aside from Scott Adams meltdown, I thought that Trump wasn't going for the Wallace gotcha (Wallace did the SAME thing to Trump in 2016, btw) because he wasn't going to credit the construct that white supremacists have played other than a miniscule role in the civil disorder in mostly blue cities.

Sally327 said...

This is partly why the audio version of your blog is not as appealing to me as actually reading it. But I might missing something since I haven't actually tried the audio version (yet?).

Fernandinande said...

Meade and I were talking about how Trump has built real-world things that have to work and hold up

He paid other people to build them.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

You know what's funny? I listen to Scott Adams in podcast form every day (often skipping over bits that don't interest me), but I would never watch his Periscopes because I don't have the time or interest to sit down and watch a talking head. I read Althouse every day but I probably won't listen to the podcast (even though I love podcasts in general) because I'm so used to, after eight years of reading, the blog format. It's interesting how format matters.

Bob Boyd said...

Scott Adams naturally tries to stand out from the crowd on the pro-Trump side and to not be boring and predictable. He also deliberately cultivates an image of being purely rational and objective. Perhaps he was inspired by Althouse's patented Cruel Neutrality.
Anyway, I think that's what he was doing with the "Trump lost my vote" thing, working being perceived as unpredictable and non-ideological. He was uncharacteristically ham-handed this time, but he's usually pretty good at it.

PubliusFlavius said...

Aye

I much prefer reading, where I can easily cover the material at the pace I prefer.

I find Adams waffling entertaining, but not newsworthy.

Eddie said...

Let's also not rule out that Scott Adams was trying to influence what is happening in the White House. Perhaps he was sending a message and the message was received, so he switched back to his familiar positions.

Ann Althouse said...

"Scott was being sarcastic ffs. He knows how many times Trump has said as much, many times. Scott set a trap and a ton of idiots to the bait."

That's what I said: It was audio click bait. Wait a day and it changes. It's a game. Why play? You can say whoever took him seriously is an "idiot," but that doesn't awe me with his cleverness. And by the way, BEFORE the debate, he'd laid different groundwork, which could have been the basis for his self-promotion after the debate, but it depended on Trump strongly denouncing white supremacy. Then Scott could have said he predicted it or that he actually *influenced* it... or it's evidence that we live in a simulation in which he's an important character. But Trump didn't do that, so he reinvented the idea.

DaveL said...

Speaking of Scott Adams, what has happened to Mickey Kaus? He hasn't posted to his blog or Twitter in several weeks.

JAORE said...

Left: You said there are good people in the Klan.
Trump: No, that was the statue issue. I said I renounced the white supremacists
Left: Why won't you renounce...
Trump: I renounce them (strong statement follows)... totally.
Left: You said WS are good people.
Trump: I renounce them (strong statement follows)... totally.
********
Repeat five or six more times...
********
Biden: You said WS are good people.
Althouse: This is disqualifying.
Wallace: Will you renounce WP?
Trump: Sure... word salad follows.
Press (for frikkin' ever): Why won't you renounce...

And they wonder why we think it's fake news.

Fernandinande said...

Podcasts are evanescent.

They're not evanescent, they're just more difficult to (re-)access than written words.

Adams says (Oct 1): "Low information voters think Trump has never denounced racists. High information voters have seen compilation clips of him doing it forcefully and repeatedly."

Ann Althouse said...

"This is partly why the audio version of your blog is not as appealing to me as actually reading it. But I might missing something since I haven't actually tried the audio version (yet?)."

The written version is the main thing for me. The audio is a backroom, where you can eavesdrop on the out-loud reading I do for Meade, and I do say a lot of extra things off the top of my head. That might amuse you or not. But the written word is much more important to me, and the audio would be nothing without it.

Meade said...

Scott Adams is why President Trump has the Wuhan virus. And Scott Adams caused me to say that.

Josephbleau said...

“He paid other people to build them.“

Yes but that simplifies the role of business management a bit, like Steve Jobs just paid people to build I phones. I respect Trump as a manager for vision and an ability to function in an extremely complex government and union corruption environment and still get projects done. I’m sure he paid a lot of lawyers to build them too.

Ann Althouse said...

"Speaking of Scott Adams, what has happened to Mickey Kaus? He hasn't posted to his blog or Twitter in several weeks."

I don't think Mickey is about talking all the time. He speaks when he's ready. Right?

Ralph L said...

The standard term is "inside skinny," though that's actually redundant because the skinny is always inside, and I doubt Althouse has any about Adams. It also implies written knowledge.

MadisonMan said...

jacksonjay, next time also add You. A Law Professor (retired) to be even more scoldy.

Ann Althouse said...

"They're not evanescent, they're just more difficult to (re-)access than written words."

English poet and novelist Horace Smith defined "pen" as “silent mouthpiece of the mind, which gives ubiquity and permanence to the evanescent thought of a moment."

Jeff Brokaw said...

“... because righties, being the unpopular kids, are happy to have anybody halfway like them“

Scott explicitly credited Republians as being more forgiving due to Christian doctrine. A massive generalization, obviously, but like a lot of generalizations, probably generally true-ish.

Democrats and the Progressive Left in general are only interested in destroying people, even for imagined past transgressions. It’s tiresome, counter-productive, and boring.

His entire experiment here was fascinating and another example of why he is an essential follow/listen in today’s world.

Ann Althouse said...

“He paid other people to build them.“/"Yes but that simplifies the role of business management a bit, like Steve Jobs just paid people to build I phones. I respect Trump as a manager for vision and an ability to function in an extremely complex government and union corruption environment and still get projects done. I’m sure he paid a lot of lawyers to build them too."

He performed the *executive function.* He had to supervise it all and delegate properly. He was responsible for the final product. And I question whether "He paid." He used loans, not his own wealth. Financing was part of the executive function that he performed. And it had to work in the real world.

M Jordan said...

Adams is a smart, insightful (there’s a difference) guy and I listen to his podcasts but he is cursed by his amoral, libertarian core. Libertarianism is an ideology for juvenile smart kids. Tucker Carlson still has it running in his veins (though less and less) and it hurts him more than he knows. I used to be one. Glad those days are over. Amoral-ism ultimately contradicts itself in every way as the rugged, Ayn Rand individual begins defending terrible things like pedophilia in defense of consistency.

traditionalguy said...

Words are words. Written or spoken they do their job of communicating ideas. Ann’s spoken version introduces the extra treat of a cute woman’s voice to mere disciplined mental acuity. Sort of like Marilyn Monroe’s unique appeal.

Scott Adams will always have his deplorable simultaneous sippers like me. We are on the same wave length.

J. Farmer said...

"Today I learned that agreeing with Democrats and saying I won’t vote for Trump makes them hate me extra and threaten me. So I’ll be voting for Trump."

Wow. What a shocker. Why anyone listens to that dweeb I haven't the slightest idea. He may call himself a hypnotist and "master persuader," but his schtick if run-of-the-mill bullshit artistry, peddling pseudo-intellectual psychobabble.

Relatedly, Trump to Hannity: "Let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that."

Oh, well, that'll definitely stop all the accusations he's a white supremacists racist neo-Nazi.

gilbar said...

Fernandinande said...
....about how Trump has built real-world things that have to work and hold up
He paid other people to build them.


right! AND; Hitler didn't kill any jews, he Just gave the orders
see how that works? it's LITERALLY a joke

wild chicken said...

A couple months ago Adams "discovered" that white supremacy meant unequal outcomes.

Then he discovered schools, and started down that well trod path of improving schools to reduce the achievement gap. Brilliant!

As if. As if we hadn't tried every goddamn reform and fad and gimmick for the past 50 years ..

He was in over his head and I think he realized it. I screamed as much at him. He stopped.

He's not quite the wiz he thinks. Are they ever?


Big Mike said...

Lost in all the kerfuffle is one, simple question. Are the Proud Boys a white supremacist organization? Chris Wallace apparently thinks so, but since when is that definitive? Wikipedia claims that the Proud Boys "has ties to white supremacists," but their citation links to a Washington Post article that simply makes the claim of "links to white supremacists," without any proof beyond reference to unidentified "experts."

One look at Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio ought to give those who would call them white supremacists. Mr. Tarrio is Cuban-American, but his skin is several degrees darker than, for instance, either Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. That makes him an unlikely candidate for a white supremacist.

The money quote from Wikipedia's article about him: In regards to his views on extremist groups and ideologies, Tarrio has been quoted as saying, "I denounce white supremacy. I denounce anti-Semitism. I denounce racism. I denounce fascism. I denounce communism and any other -ism that is prejudice towards people because of their race, religion, culture, tone of skin." In regards to his own ethnicity, he has said, "I'm pretty brown, I'm Cuban. There's nothing white supremacist about me."

The Proud Boys are willing to get into Antifa faces and are prepared to take the discussion to fist city as needed. Good for them.

Note to roesch, Freder, and other trolls. You are probably already pounding your keyboards trying to come up with some way to say that Enrique Tarrio and any other dark-skinned people in the organization he heads are "self-hating blacks." Spare your keystrokes. No one believes you, including yourselves.

Bilwick said...

M. Jordan: So when you abandoned libertarianism, what was it? Did you read some book refuting Bastiat, Von Mises, et al? Did you decide, "I have too much freedom--I'd like someone to take some of it away from me?" As someone who still thinks is life and property belongs to himself, I'm always curious what convinces people to move from a pro-freedom position to the opposite.

Drago said...

Althouse: "He explained that he didn't like that jerks of the left didn't welcome him into their fold, so he was back on Trump's side, because righties, being the unpopular kids, are happy to have anybody halfway like them."

I listened to this Adam's podcast yesterday while driving and I believe Althouse has done a poor job characterizing what Adams said so I'll chime in here.

Adams explained (and he admitted this was all generalized so dont get hung up on that) that republicans in general tend to operate to some degree in a Christian "forgive the sinner" framework, whereas the left does not. The left generally rejects that framework completely.

Thus, when Adams first stated that Trump had lost his vote the republicans/conservatives attempt to reason with him as if he were simply a wayward friend, but a still a friend.

Whereas, even after he said Trump lost his vote the left/dems still proceeded to (in Adam's words) dump massive buckets of s*** on him for his past "transgressions", which boiled down to Adams not believing in any of the hoaxes that have been debunked...you know, are lies.

And Scott completed this discussion in this way, and I'll bet I am getting it close to verbatim so I'll use quote marks:

Republicans will forgive you for actual sins and still treat you as a friend but democrats will hold you guilty, forever, with no hope of redemption, based on lies

I'd respectfully suggest that is a considerably different and more accurate take than Althouse's take on Scott Adams comments.

wendybar said...

Fernandinande said...
Meade and I were talking about how Trump has built real-world things that have to work and hold up

He paid other people to build them.

10/3/20, 8:38 AM

What have YOU done???

traditionalguy said...

The TokyoRose Dems are infuriated with The Proud Boys like she was with the USMC. They both are guilty of fighting back to defeat the armed election count Riot Army.

wendybar said...

J. Farmer said...Relatedly, Trump to Hannity: "Let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that."

Oh, well, that'll definitely stop all the accusations he's a white supremacists racist neo-Nazi.

10/3/20, 9:24 AM
Oh, Farmer...This is why we laugh at you, and people like CNN's Jim Acosta. You repeat a lie often enough and the ignorant democrats will believe it....Jim Acosta
@Acosta
Trump has finally condemned white supremacists... on Hannity.
9:51 PM · Oct 1, 2020
BUTTTT.....3 years ago in 2017 Jim posted this...Jim Acosta @Acosta
Trump condemns KKK and white supremacists commenting on Charlottesville: Racism is evil.


Not to mention Chris Wallace asked Trump and got the same answer in the 2016 debates. You lefties HAVE NOTHING else. Race card is dead. Be careful what you wish for, because it won't end well, and the blood will be on YOUR hands.



Original Mike said...

THAT was jacksonjay's meltdown? LOL.

Original Mike said...

"And I question whether "He paid." He used loans, not his own wealth."

He got other people to pay for them. Even more impressive. Could Fernandinande do that? I sure couldn't.

cf said...

good observation, and it informs my frustration with @NPR news pieces because there is no transcription, they say the tape itself is the one thing or something?
Invisible for search engines, then, essentially. Slippery on their part, or is that slimy?

Carol said...

Mickey Kaus sent out an email to subscribers 9/22.

Bob Boyd said...

He paid other people to build them.

A true high-rise builder works alone.

Gordon Scott said...

M. Jordan: "Libertarianism is an ideology for juvenile smart kids."

Oh, yeah. I've never heard it stated so succinctly.

Original Mike said...

Perhaps jacksonjay's "meltdown" was the day before when Adams was pretty pissed about Trump not challenging Biden when he brought up the " fine people hoax" again. Adams was right to be pissed, IMO. Trump had a huge audience, he should have slammed Biden hard on the smear.

Jupiter said...

Adams lives in California. It doesn't matter who he votes for.

Jersey Fled said...

He paid other people to build them.

Trump and people like him are a combination of visionary and achiever.

Without them people don't get hired to build much of anything.

Ann Althouse said...

"Relatedly, Trump to Hannity: "Let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that.""

On yesterday's show, Scott kept calling that response "perfect." I won't venture to guess what game that is, but I hated Trump's saying that. The President of the United States should generally avoid condemning private citizens. This looks like he's succumbing to bullying. He should condemn white supremacy, not act like he's investigated all the groups that can be named.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"The straight skinny" is not a more powerful version of "the skinny" - they have the same meaning as "the gouge." All of those were expressions that were used in the Navy and mean "the inside scoop."

Ann Althouse said...

And to admit he hasn't investigated a group and then condemn them anyway is just a display of carelessness.

J. Farmer said...

@wendybar:



Wendy, let me give you a little pro-tip. Next time you attempt to mock someone by saying you laugh at them, try knowing what the hell you're talking about. My remark about Trump's condemnation was sarcasm. As you noted, he's condemned white supremacists repeatedly, so I'm not sure what this latest denunciation is supposed to accomplish.

Gordon Scott said...

Adams is quite wise in some areas. Others, he demonstrates that he thinks like an autistic engineer:

"Let's just build a town in the middle of nowhere and let all the addicts live there and do whatever they want." Sure, right. Towns exist where they exist because of geographic reasons, like access to water. And addicts are incapable of operating a town effectively. Who wants to live and work in Addict Town, other than dealers? Even the addicts don't, because they're scared of other addicts.

"We can just set up A-B testing of schools (city government) (guaranteed wage) (etc)."
Well, no you can't, because of politics. Civic life does not operate like a corporation, where the boss can just order things done.

"All we have to do is explain to black people that education solves all of their problems, and that racism is their smallest problem." Yeah, you're right, except that doesn't get black teens to stay in school and not disrupt, and it doesn't get the race hustlers to stop fomenting trouble. Teens are not rational, and race hustlers make good money causing trouble.

Original Mike said...

"I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that."

Adam's thought it was sarcasm, and I have to admit when I heard it I thought it was hilarious.

J. Farmer said...

@DaveL:

Speaking of Scott Adams, what has happened to Mickey Kaus? He hasn't posted to his blog or Twitter in several weeks.

I'm not sure if you're just referring to his newsletter, but Mickey has been tweeting regularly. His last newsletter was sent out on the 22nd.

Ann Althouse said...

"Perhaps jacksonjay's "meltdown" was the day before when Adams was pretty pissed about Trump not challenging Biden when he brought up the " fine people hoax" again. Adams was right to be pissed, IMO. Trump had a huge audience, he should have slammed Biden hard on the smear."

It was probably both the "fine people" thing and the "white supremacy" thing, but I'm not going to relisten to podcasts to check. If you look at the question about "fine people," it actually didn't contain the hoax. Wallace said, "Vice-President Biden, you say that President Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville three years ago, when he talked about very fine people on both sides, was what directly led you to launch this run for president."

It is true that Trump " talked about very fine people on both sides." Wallace was careful not to do the "hoax" presentation of the Trump quote. There's nothing to correct. Trump chose to talk about what his administration has done for black people, not to parse a hoax that had not been brought up again. He'd have wasted time explaining the hoax and that would probably revive it as much as kill it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I think "proud boys" are not white supreme. They are proud of their masculinity. Something frowned upon by the woke left.

But the hack press call them white supreme - so, you know. whatever the hack press wants.

all while they ignore the white left.

Michael K said...

Blogger Jersey Fled said...
He paid other people to build them.

Trump and people like him are a combination of visionary and achiever.

Without them people don't get hired to build much of anything.


I avoid that commenter but this is similar to "You didn't build that."

Ice Nine said...

Here's the skinny on "the skinny": The standard term is "the straight skinny" - at least it is in the three U.S. time zones that I've lived in.

It's an American term. Best to not look to Brits for an explanation of the fine points of it.

Tom T. said...

tcrosse, we're all on a treadmill to oblivion.

Original Mike said...

"It is true that Trump " talked about very fine people on both sides." Wallace was careful not to do the "hoax" presentation of the Trump quote. There's nothing to correct."

I don't think people can parse things that closely when listening (as opposed to reading). Since it's a mainstay of Biden's campaign (he even did the ludicrous "veins bulging" crap again) I don't think you can leave it unchallenged. My opinion.

heyboom said...

Was eating at a breakfast place here in SoCal the day after the debate and two guys sitting nearby were talking politics. Loudly. They pretty much called Trump a white supremacist and repeated the meme that he hasn't denounced them. They also trashed him for a few more of the usual things like his personality, etc.

Then they both agreed that they would still vote for Trump because Biden was crazy and looked like he was about to croak. They also discussed how much they really hated Kamala Harris and her record as CA AG. Made me smile to myself thinking that for some people it really does come down to going with the "devil you know".

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The linkable Meeriam-Webster has the inside/straight/real skinny.

daskol said...

Wow, so to be textual today means that because Wallace didn't repeat the precise text of the hoax, but rather cleverly elided the false part only to use it as the entire fucking premise of his whole question--the premise being Trump's reluctance to condemn white supremacists--Wallace was not perpetuating the hoax.

That's got to be the lamest invocation of textualism I've seen on the blog. The syntax is not the text.

daskol said...

The appropriate response to Wallace's question is in line with what some commenters here have said, but to be perfect it would have required the Howard Stern Show's Bela Lugosi "Fuck you" drop. Trump should carry that around in one of those "That was easy!" buttons he can mash whenever someone deserves it.

Big Mike said...

And to admit he hasn't investigated a group and then condemn them anyway is just a display of carelessness.

Oh, bullshit, Althouse. Admit it -- you accepted Chris Wallace's and the Post's characterization of the Proud Boys as a white supremacy group yourself. He's got a lot more on his mind than a retired professor has.

rcocean said...

Why are we constantly talking about Trump and white nationalists? Why is the Press constantly asking him to "denounce and disavow"? why is the Press Constantly ignoring his PREVIOUS denunciations and disavowals? This shit has been going on for FIVE YEARS, yet Althouse, and the pundits, and the Democrats want to play the same broken record over and over again.

Why? And why do the R's in Congress NEVER say, "Look, Trump has disavowed/denounced WS 15 times over the last five years, why is the Press keep bringing it up?" Instead, they expect Trump to keep disavowing over and over again. Why?

What's even more weird is this has ZERO to do with any important issue in this country. It has NOTHING to do with the economy, foreign policy, and has ZERO impact on anyone's life. Yet, people seem obsessed with it.

rcocean said...

Biden actually said he got in the race because of Charlottesville and lies about what Trump said, and lies about what happened. Talk about nutty and dishonest. Who cares if 100 neo--nazis marched down a street with tike torches saying "you will not replace us". What impact did that have on anyone's life? None.

Its a completely manufactured event. Nothing happened at Charlottesville that affected anyone's life. Yet look at all the press coverage over the last 3 years (!), the constant discussion, the endless lies about it. Its crazy. Do people ever what to discuss the REAL issues, that actually affect their lives? I guess not.

Drago said...

The other key item that Adams mentioned in his podcast yesterday was, in his opinion, and I believe I am accurately characterizing his comments though clearly not in a verbatim way, the left cannot reason and do cause and effect.

He has spoken quite alot on something we've made note of here at Althouse blog. Which is how after a disagreement with his liberal friends or acquaintances is "resolved" sufficiently by Adams returning time and again with the actual evidence, something he claims often takes months and years for his extremely smart liberal/leftist friends, the very next day the liberals will either reset and you'll have to begin all over again or they will immediately flex to some other "thing" that is not the original complaint at all and the "truth" of this other non-related thing then becomes a stand in for the disproved thing and there you go.

I think Adams might have been reading Althouse blog as well and seeing how the Althouse lefties demonstrate those proclivities every single day.

n.n said...

Cabin fever. Adams noted that social distancing is a clear and progressive risk.

Jeff Brokaw said...

“And to admit he hasn't investigated a group and then condemn them anyway is just a display of carelessness.”

I saw it as a swipe at Wallace and his media pals that just spent 4 months ignoring/encouraging BLM and Antifa riots but now that the polling number show people are sick of it, they want to gaslight us into thinking it’s actually the Proud Boys.

Right. Sure. Listen Chris why don’t you take that load of horseshit down the street and sell it somebody else. I’ve never been a big fan, but like 98% of media jackasses he’s now on my list of people to never trust again.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Trump is beat over the head with nonsense non-stop..

While the corrupt press ignore Antifa terror and arson and violence and destruction of property... the hack press never stop asking Trump if he condemns " fill in the blank "

It's lame.

At what point can Trump tell the hack press to FUCK OFF?

daskol said...

Also: it's the skinny. Or the inside dope or the straight dope. But not the straight skinny or inside skinny.

Yancey Ward said...

"The straight skinny" is a non-politically correct term if I ever saw one- it is both anti-gay and fat shaming at the same time.

Francisco D said...

Big Mike said... Lost in all the kerfuffle is one, simple question. Are the Proud Boys a white supremacist organization? Chris Wallace apparently thinks so, but since when is that definitive?

It was Joe Biden who brought up The Proud Boys. Wallace had a different role in hectoring Trump with the same question about White Supremacy 4 years ago.

The Proud Boys are a multi-racial group of Deplorable who stand up to AntiFa and BLM. So, of course they are White Supremacists using a current understanding of the term.

wild chicken said...

I wish Trump would just cut to the case with "playing the race card again eh? That's all you got?"

Though they've got the left and half the right so cowed about the issue, it works. Look how self-conscious Adams is. Probably because Engineering is so white. And asian, but you know.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

One of Scott Adams prediction technique/theory holds (I'm paraphrasing) that whatever makes for the most attractive, most elegant or whatever, outcome of a story, that is what usually ends up occurring.

Is the most attractive, desired outcome for Trump Trump to die or to survive?

It occurs to me now that the theory holds no matter what Trump's covid19 outcome will be.

Maybe i got the theory wrong.

rcocean said...

The Proud boys, btw, are not a 'white supremists" organization. But what does it matter? The whole point is Trump should NOT be forced to "disavow" racists, over and over and over again. The problem isn't Trump, the problem is the Left-wing Press, the Democrats, and the goofy pundits who are obsessed with this non-existent problem and trivial issue.

Fernandinande said...

Trump and people like him are a combination of visionary and achiever.
Without them people don't get hired to build much of anything.
...
He got other people to pay for them. Even more impressive. Could Fernandinande do that? I sure couldn't.


Why's everybody always picking on me?

I agree with you both, I didn't mean to denigrate the stuff he's done, which is made cooler by the fact that his projects involved things her personally enjoyed, like golf and resorts, rather than something generic like real estate speculation. And no, I could never come close to doing that international building/banking stuff.

He's ultimately responsible for the creation of those building, but he's NOT the guy(s) who made sure the buildings worked and stayed up - that would be the engineers and architects.

I avoid that commenter but this is similar to "You didn't build that."

No you don't and no it's not.

What have YOU done???

I cut the soles off my shoes, sat in a tree, learned to play the flute and discovered that ngram says "straight skinny" is slightly more popular than "inside skinny".

Original Mike said...

Adams today asked a question that I've been asking too.* If "white supremacy" is the big threat that some people claim, where is it? We see the left rioting in the cities nightly, but where are the white supremacists? He goes into his research to try and find them, which led him to one incidence in Texas of a guy who shot up a store, and when Adams went and read the guys manifesto, nope. Not white supremacy.

Adams asked his listeners to text him examples, so maybe he'll have some tomorrow.

* it's the last few minutes of his podcast, so you don't have to listen to the whole thing.

Original Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Churchy LaFemme: said...

The Olive Oyl pic looks to date to the Segar's run on Thimble Theater.

The original hero of the strip was Olive's brother Castor who hired a random sailor from the docks as a henchman during one story arc. Guess who?

Olive's appeal was inexplicable, but she mesmerized Popeye to the extent that he eventually displaced her beau Ham Gravy after a brutal fisk fight.

There is a book on all things Popeye which points out that only once was Olive drawn in with any sort of a bosom. That was in the Northern themed cartoon with "Bluto" as "McBluto" and the singing bears doing a fur commercial.

Fernandinande said...

right! AND; Hitler didn't kill any jews, he Just gave the orders
see how that works? it's LITERALLY a joke


I'm kind of surprised at the retardo-level reading comprehension in this thread, but perhaps I shouldn't be.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Proud Boys: Misguided Western Civilization Fanboys, Not Racists

eddie willers said...

Who cares if 100 neo--nazis marched down a street with tike torches saying "you will not replace us". What impact did that have on anyone's life? None.

It was pointed out by Adams that we never saw these Polo shirt, creased pants wearing, tiki torch bearing Aryan boys before.....

....and haven't seen them since.

Neither he or nor I are "False Flag" conspiracy people, but this one makes you go "hmmmmm...".

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Fernandinande said:

He paid other people to build them."

Fernandinande expects Trump to single handedly build his hotels, casinos, etc. Trump does the architecture design, calculate all the stresses, dig the foundation hole, pour all the concrete, run the tower crane, place and bolt together all of the steel columns and beams, do all the electrical work, carpentry, HVAC, place the facade in place, and cut the grand-opening ribbon, all by his little lonesome. Fernandinande, just like all Democrats, thinks that all it takes to get a project done is wave a magic wand and puff! all is done and ready for use.

5M - Eckstine said...

White Supremacy: Is it 6 tired old low IQ men and 1 woman between them or is it 165 million people watching the The Apprentice?

Racism: Is it the above mentioned bakers half dozen actually hating on 40 million people because of color or is it an epithreat of the emotionally hurt hysteria of the under educated.

The OED is behind the times.

Gk1 said...

KNowing were Scott Adams lives I suspect he is protecting himself against his liberal neighbors who would think nothing of destroying his livelihood and setting his house on fire while he was sleeping. It takes a brave man to openly support Trump in the bay area.

If you watch the entire periscope, like I did, you came away thinking Scott is pretty pissed off at trump for leaving this easy shot open to refute the "fine people"hoax but allows the press keeps ignoring trumps disavowals of KKK and nazi's and will keep bringing it up until election day.

Scott leaves open the door trump can win his vote back so its not that big of an earth shattering event.

5M - Eckstine said...

Without a strong ethical context for communicating how people change there is a real ceiling to persuasion that Adams and Cernovich run into. Thus why they appear frustrated. Their audiences are all stupid.

It's easy to convince people of bad things. The thing persuades. Trump has the same issue. But is more nuanced and learning as we speak. Trump knows how an idea carries itself to success. But this is his first time as POTUS. He has to up his persuasion game globally if he evolves with the office. Trump is a person who lives for that type of challenge.

Persuasion at its ultimate state is only effective if it helps people plus one themselves. Its a master musician who has the full spectrum of tin eared students. Frustration means one hasn't quite mastered the art yet.

5M - Eckstine said...

And don't get me wrong Scott Adams is one of the leading practical thinkers in the country. He describes it well as talent stack. He doesn't get enough positive looks. He showed me all my weaknesses in a few minutes. In a humorous way. Now its on me if I want to do better.

Readering said...

Shorter Scott Adams: "me, Me, ME!"




iowan2 said...

Fernandinande has taken the appropriate digital slap back. I'm sure he'll be more precise in his word choice, in the future.

One example of President Trump not building something is the outdoor skating rink in NYC, he watched the city try to build over a couple of months with not much progress. He went to the local govt and asked why all the delays, they made a bunch of excuses. Trump said "I'll do it to your specs, tell me how much money I have to work with."
In several weeks, skating rink done. To say Trump did not build that is true enough, but somebody made it happen.

There are 3? vaccines at level III trials, in less 9 months. An unheard of time frame. Trump doesn't know vaccine from vaseline. Yet here we are. Convince me Trump is not responsible for building those vaccines.

I've worked on the periphery of large construction projects with different managers. There is a measurable difference in results due to management.

Unknown said...

Pretty clear Adams

SMOKES A LOT OF POT

He's stuff is like listening to The Dude

ken in tx said...

Lyndon Johnson once started a rumor that an opponent, who owned a pig farm, had sex with pigs. Johnson said he wanted him to publicly deny it, and therefore make the idea more well known. It worked. Johnson won the election.

That's why the media keeps asking Trump about white supremacy. They want to keep the white supremacy concept associated with Trump in the public mind.

The Godfather said...

Trump might do better with the "renounce" questions if he were an Episcopalian - we learn how to answer these questions when we're baptised:

Q. Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

A, I renounce them.

Q. Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?

A. I renouce them.

etc., etc., etc.

Of course, Wallace would need to be clearer in his questions for this to work. When I was baptised I don't recall being asked about renouncing The Proud Boys (according to ABC News the next day, "The Poor Boys"). I would have had to say, Bishop, I have no idea!

DeepRunner said...

Scott Adams made clear that it was personal for him, as in he had been wounded directly after sticking up for Trump. I watched the Periscope. There are times when Scott Adams can sound very full of himself, and this was one of them.

But to Ann's point, yeah, not easy to transcribe.