(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . President Joe Biden---Day 1325---Fourth Year---Day 320---Evening Shade---Tuesday [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-17 THE PERSON who MAKES the FIRST COMMENT WILL GET TWO CRITTERS EVERY PERSON WHO COMMENTS WILL GET A CRITTER RULES IN THE DIARY WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING in the DIARY that you LIKE YOU CAN REPOST IT AS COMMENT in the DIARY === 'Just really stupid': Mockery onslaught as Republican mistakes Star Wars prop for drone. www.rawstory.com/… A Republican state senator drew a fact-check — and a round of mockery — for confusing a "Star Wars" prop with one of the drones that have been spooking residents along the eastern seaboard. ✂️ "It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones," posted Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano on X. "The fecklessness of this administration was on display last year when a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly over the entire continental United States before being shot down." However, the GOP legislator and failed gubernatorial candidate's post included a screenshot of one of the purported drones, which claimed it had been retrieved from water near Orange Beach, presumably in Alabama. Other social media users noticed it appeared to be Tie Fighter prop from the "Star Wars" films. === what the Actual fuck Nancy? From Ron Filipkowski bsky.app/... Nancy Mace says she is concerned that the drone sightings off NJ is either aliens from another planet or Russia/Iran/China searching for a missing nuclear warhead. Click the link if you want to watch. === From the Why Am I Not Surprised files. KFile: Pete Hegseth spread baseless conspiracy theories that January 6 attack was carried out by leftist groups. www.cnn.com/... ✂️ Four days after the Capitol riot, Hegseth appeared on a podcast hosted by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called “Newt’s World.” Hegseth, who was then a Fox News host and prominent conservative media figure, downplayed the violence, defended the rioters’ motivations, and criticized the media for rejecting baseless claims of a stolen election. He also seized on debunked reports claiming that the riot was instigated by the leftist group known as Antifa. Hegseth alleged that he had seen evidence firsthand that Antifa members disguised themselves as Trump supporters at the riot. “There are reports, you know, in the New York Post and elsewhere. And just from, you know, common sense, that Antifa folks took advantage of this to try to get to the front and try to agitate and create openings for themselves,” Hegseth said. “They want chaos, ultimately,” Hegseth said of Antifa members. “I could even spot it. You can see the helmets where there’s a Donald Trump bumper sticker on the back, quickly put on it so they could look like they wanted to stop the steal. But what they really wanted to do was further the narrative.” === But wait, there's moar. “Bottoms Up”— Pete Hegseth Took Swigs from Champagne Bottle, Plunged Into the Alcoholic Beverage During Fox News Broadcast. meidasnews.com/… Pete Hegseth, Trump's Department of Defense nominee, is currently fighting against allegations that he has been drinking on the job and that co-workers at Fox News were concerned that he has a drinking problem. NBC News reported that, "ten current and former Fox employees say Trump’s pick for defense secretary drank in ways that concerned his co-workers." ✂️ Hegseth pushed back against the allegations, issuing a challenge to everyone to "check the tape" for any work related drinking problems: "So, they have tried to create a narrative based on, you know, what they said about Vets for Freedom and CVA and all of that, and now they are trying to extend the string. This is what they are trying to do with Senators. Right? Ok, we've got to extend this string from past behavior to current behavior, and so what NBC's going to do is, make up anonymous sources, none of which are close to me, none of which know me, claiming that I had a drinking problem at Fox or was drunk on air. I tell every out there, check the tape. Check every tape. Find the drunken..." MeidasTouch has accepted Hegseth's challenge and has located tape of Hegseth drinking on air. During Fox News' All American New Year Live from Nashville, ringing in the 2023 New Year, Hegseth stated, with his children and his wife Jenny on stage, that "tonight it's bottoms up with all of us up here." Read the whole thing - you may need a shower afterwards. === The One Big Reason Why Dems Are Losing the Information War. www.meidasplus.com/… ✂️ Democrats are losing the information/messaging war against Republicans for one major reason - MAGA created an alternative media ecosystem that pumps their messaging out to tens of millions of people every single day while Democrats currently have just a handful of small outlets like Meidas to counter them. ✂️ He noted that Democrats reliance on traditional media and ads to get their messaging out fails to reach low-information voters who get their information from alternative sources. From the article: The campaign knew from the beginning that the race was going to come down to voters who do not pay attention to politics or mainstream news and instead get their information from people on YouTube, their friends’ Instagram stories, or links or memes dropped in a group chat. Flaherty said that there is a reason why this is happening: “Folks are seeking alternative sources of media and are turning away from political news because they don’t trust our institutions. They don’t trust elites, they don’t trust the media, they don’t trust all this stuff. So the party of elites and institutions is going to have a hard time selling to people in these places.” === Dog, I miss Keith Olbermann. Keith Olbermann: How Can MSNBC Save Itself After Trump’s Win? First Step: Fire Mika and Joe. variety.com/… What does MSNBC do now? After Trump accomplished the Undead thing and retook the White House? After Comcast announced plans to spin off the network (along with others) in such haste that its new company was named “SpinCo”? After Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski went on their show and welcomed our new insect overlords? After its audience vanished? Nothing. Stay the course. The audience is exhausted and needs a break. It’ll be back — and Resistier than ever. Suffer the ratings trough. I mean, obviously you have to fire Mr. and Mrs. Scared-Bro. However: Continue their banal but largely benign political coffee klatch show without them and their insistence we all join their MSNVichy. Nobody will remember they were ever there. Plus, the next money is coming from more fervent opposition to MAGA, not less. Wasn’t the Scarborough disaster (60% of the demo audience gone in three days) instructive enough? Did you not notice CNN going from fact-based criticism of Trump’s madness to hours of cacophonous shouting, and sinking to whatever is the next level down from irrelevance? Did the quarter of a million canceled Washington Post subscriptions not tell you something? Or the exodus from Twitter/X? What do you think happened to all these news consumers? That they were raptured? They’re all still there waiting to spend their time and money at the only liberal candy store still open: yours. These other supposed bastions of journalism have left you a near monopoly. And MSNBC only exists today because the last time NBC was handed a near monopoly, your management ancestors said, “A hundred million in profits from Olbermann’s liberal show? I guess we’ll take it. If we have to.” === This is a long, but useful read from Presidential Historian Steven Beschloss. My only complaint is he buried the lede. The Rich, The Powerful, The Cowardly. www.americaamerica.news/... ✂️ But here’s the thing: As much as I am angry and worried and prone to lament over what may come to pass, the examples of ring-kissing by people who should know better is valuable. Rather than fear that the opposition is weakened by these Americans who are bending down to Trump, they are saving us time by telling us that they are not up to the fight and we cannot count on them. And honestly, perhaps perversely, this gives me more strength. Because if these people have large, powerful media organizations with significant legal resources behind them or they have massive fortunes that should be a bulwark against the darkening tide—and still they choose to kowtow—then you, me and everyone else who lacks such resources are freer than they will ever be. Their need to maintain their foothold in Trump’s hostile, authoritarian takeover is a cage. They may think their access or alliance strengthens their position, but recent history has made painfully clear that there’s no freedom, no reliable certainty, for anyone who chooses to be close to the sociopathic Trump. === Evening Shade Seekers! Housekeeping Note: I'm off to a movie and a meal this afternoon and may not be back in time for the start of the Shade. In the meantime, play nicely together and welcome all Shaders. Happy Wright Brothers Day! Happy National Device Appreciation Day! (Long) Happy Festival of Winter Walks! AND Happy National Maple Syrup Day! Tomorrow is National Bake Cookies Day. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/17/2292390/-President-Joe-Biden-Day-1325-Fourth-Year-Day-320-Evening-Shade-Tuesday?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/