Yup! [DOT 4/2/22]

4/2/22 MegMegMcGee 23

Pretty much that’s all I’ve got going for me today. I gotta get on a plane at 1 and fly to Atlanta for a funeral but at least I don’t have to go to work.

I hope you have an awesome Friday!

Huh?

National Butterfly Center closes after repeated threats stemming from false sex-trafficking claims
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/03/texas-butterfly-center-conspiracy-harassment/

Oh?

Islamic State’s ‘ghost’ of a leader was plotting comeback when U.S. commandos cornered him
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/03/qurayshi-isis-leader-killed/

Eh?

Ottawa protests: tensions grow as ‘intolerable’ truck blockade paralyzes Canada capital
https://www.theguardian.com/discover-cool-canada/2022/feb/03/ottawa-protests-tensions-grow-truck-blockade-paralyzes-canada-capital

Stonks!

Facebook stock plummets 26%, on pace for its biggest one-day drop ever
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/facebook-shares-plummet-22percent-after-reporting-weak-guidance.html

Facebook suffers $230bn wipeout in biggest one-day US stock plunge
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/03/facebook-stock-shares-meta-mark-zuckerberg

Sprots!

On Capitol Hill, ex-Washington NFL employees levy new harassment claims against Daniel Snyder
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/03/daniel-snyder-harassment-allegations-congress/

Moms, am I right?

Name that plow! What’s your punny name for plows?

Have a great Friday!

avataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravatar

23 Comments

  2. And forgive the New York Post link but a tabloid is where this trash belongs:

    https://nypost.com/2022/02/03/jeff-zucker-allison-gollusts-cozy-ties-with-andrew-cuomo-deeper-than-previously-known/

    So Jeff and Allie begged Handsy to show up more often on Fredo’s show, not out of civic duty, but ratings. In their spare time they coached him on how to punch up his daily Covid press briefings. It was Handsy, no shrinking violet, who demurred, in a rare display of modest restraint. There are few people on earth who could raise my Marianas Trench-level low opinion of Emperor Andreus Marcus, so it is with grudging respect that I tip my Covid mask to you, Jeff Zucker.

    • I read that his explanation tried to suggest they somehow got together because of Covid, which only led people to talk even more about how many years everyone knew this has been going on.

      Which of course raises the obvious question WHY DIDN’T REPORTERS COVER THIS SOONER?

      It wasn’t just an affair, which could reasonably be seen as a minor private issue. It was a network president repeatedly hiring and advancing someone over other people due to their relationship.

      Of course the scary thing is that it is entirely possible CNN gets even worse without him, as bad as he was. CNN is due to be sold to Discovery, and they have a lousy track record as far as quality too.

       

      • I mean, as a reporter who is extremely likely to have to find another job one day, would you gratuitously piss off a major news media mogul? Even if your morals and journalistic ethics are on point, that’s a pretty big step to take. And it’s not just Fred the field reporter. It’s gonna have to get past Susie Anchorwoman, and Justin Newsmanager, and Alice Vicepresident, and Barney President, and Eliot Legalcounsel, and every single person on the board of directors. That’s a lot of points where a story could get spiked, and it would take a LOT of juice to push the story past those checkpoints.

        Which, to your point, is a major issue with the news media and how it works.

  4. Apparently Zuck pretended he had something in his eye as his personal wealth dropped 31 Billion when he came into a meeting.

    Not even a Robot troll can withstand that kind of financial hit without some kind of emotional reaction. Admittedly, I’d be hoarse and kind of watery eyed even whimper, but I’d have the stones to admit being upset (who the hell wouldn’t?)

    Zuck, it seems, has a long way to go to grow the fuck up which might explain why he’s been such a fucking denying toad all his fucking life.

    The story of his tears sustain me.

     

    • He was warned for years by people at Facebook that following Peter Thiel’s strategy of turning the image of the company into a niche product for racist uncles and aunts was a bad move long term.

      It’s a basic rule of branding that it’s vastly easier to get old conservatives to buy a product seen as young and liberal than it is to get young and liberal people to buy something branded as old and conservative.

      But robots can’t feel this, or anything, really.

      • And it’s a basic rule of biology that old and conservative die sooner than young and liberal. It’s astounding how few people on the conservative side seem to be able to grasp this fact.

  5. It’s worth noting that the FB stock shrinkage isn’t just about present performance and expenses related to Meta, whatever that is. It’s about analyst doubts about the future value of Meta, whatever that is.

    I think what hasn’t percolated into press coverage, because so many reporters and editors are craven apologists for PR flacks, is that doubts are growing about the  usefulness of Meta, whatever that is.

    A classic example gross PR fluffing by newspapers for Meta, whatever that is, is this long NY Times article about weddings by Meta, whatever that is.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/fashion/metaverse-virtual-wedding.html

    Although given some slippages in tone here and there, I have to be open to the possibility that somebody involved in this fluff piece wasn’t completely on board with whitewashing this mess with Meta, whatever that is.

    • A big part of that is chain stores aren’t even sending trucks in to stock up or paying enough overtime to get items on shelves. They shrank their ability handle any contingencies in the name of supposed efficiency, and now they’re failing.

      Corporations want the stories to be about customers being irrational, but people aren’t panic buying all of the sauerkraut, radishes and pigs feet. The stores just aren’t doing their part.

      • That is certainly part of it. The woman who tweeted it , a worker at the store, also told of seeing customers fighting over groceries.
        We had a big ice storm in 2009 that left people without power for days, weeks in other parts of the state. But buying more than you need, and more than you can use is another ugly example of I’ve got mine, screw you.

        • Oh, there are definitely confrontations and these unfortunate employees get caught in the middle. But overwhelmingly the problem is store owners aren’t bothering to supply stores, which leads to customers freaking more and more.

          In the past stores would see storms as an opportunity to build their customer base — by treating them like Thanksgiving they’d build a brand for being a place that always has eggs and potatoes.

          Now they’re taking a blame the customer approach, which has been Facebook’s approach to its fascist problem, and that isn’t smart if they want to keep market share in a couple of years.

        • Part of it is also unfamiliarity. When we have a hurricane every second or third week people are pretty calm. Yeah, they buy up all the plywood and bottled water but that’s okay because us old-timers have our plywood in the garage and we fill gallon jugs with tap water and we’re just fine.

          It’s when you go two or three years without a hurricane and all the people who moved here realize one is on the way that things go nuts. But we old-timers have our plywood in the garage and we fill gallon jugs with tap water and we’re just fine. And newcomers become old-timers and they donate their 16 cans of rattlesnake meat to food pantries, and the circle of life goes on.

          Now there are massive supply-chain issues, like blue dogcollar and Loveshaq point out. But a big part of this current situation is freaking out over the unknown.

  7. There should be some great rugby on your TV this weekend, and for the next several as the Six Nations tournament kicks off tomorrow.  I thought about composing an “unhelpful guide”-type post far too late last night, and then I realized this video covers it all in under 2 minutes:

    • …wow, the six nations is on?

      …I really have lost track of time…although mostly these days watching that stuff makes me feel old…I didn’t used to need to have someone explain the rules…but they’ve changed some stuff over the years & I don’t think I can honestly tell a ruck from a maul at this point…hell, I’m still not used to the part where what used to be illegal “lifting” in a line out is now the only way anyone does those

      …sigh…I may in fact just be old…still…thank you for the reminder

Leave a Reply