Thursday, June 29, 2017

Open Thread Thoughts

Some quick open-thread thoughts...

(1) Bella Hadid just did an interview lamenting the fact that people don't like her. See, she's a very nice person who wasn't handed anything (despite being the daughter of a very rich man) and she doesn't get why people don't like her. That she would get a PR lift/tuck is no surprise after a series of recent missteps, including backing an exclusive concert on a Caribbean island which turned into a disaster and the two greatest sins of our time: (1) getting caught smoking at the MET and (2) repeated vulgar displays of wealth.

(2) On yesterday's topic, I find it interesting that the Ritz Carlton immediately responded to Jones by asking her to contact them so they could fix whatever the problem was, but Jones hasn't said anything about it since. So was her goal really to expose racism at the Ritz Cartons (//snicker snicker) or was it to lay claim to being a victim again? I'll be very curious to see how she handles it.

(3) Speaking of racism, Susan Rice formerly of Team Obama is the one who got caught demasking Trump people to they could be spied on by the Obama Administration. She could be in real trouble for this. This week, she went nuclear, claiming that the reason they have picked her as a target for investigation is racism and sexism. Right. LOL! Nope, they picked you because you broke the law, dumbass.

(3) I actually found myself physically bored by reading Elizabeth Warren yammering on today about Trump "lying to our faces." It's become like listing to a disliked uncle tell the same story you know is a lie for the hundredth time. The Democrats better get a new sales pitch.

(4) It won't be the minimum wage. There is a new study out which even a lot of leftists are bothered by. It showed that as Seattle's minimum wage rose, employment didn't go down, but it shifted. Employers started hiring more experiences people and using them to replace the bottom of the barrel. In other words, not only does minimum wage hurt the poor, it hurts those who need it the absolute most. Welcome to the world of Democratic policies.

21 comments:

LL said...

Progressives think that everyone else is dumber than they are. It's one of the hallmarks of being a prog. And then there's the refuge that is provided by racism/sexism, and all of the deadly phobias and the battle against white privilege that Rice and her ilk seek when they're caught committing a crime. Rice, a noted liar, may have gone too far this time.

tryanmax said...

(1) Bella Who?

(2) Why am I not surprised?

(3) Poca-Who?

(4) I also heard that McDonald's turned their slumping stock around and hit an all-time high on the announcement that they're replacing cashiers in 2500 with touch-screen kiosks. LOLOLOLOL!

As both a former employee and continuing regular patron, I applaud the move. Order-entry is the single greatest point of error, especially with customization. A kiosk would eliminate this insofar as the error would be on the patron and not the store. And as an employee, front-line service was just--the worst. Obviously, there will still need to be a person to hand you your food with a friendly smile (until the conveyors are installed) but that smile will be easier to fake if you hadn't just changed your mind on me twelve times and gotten mad that I couldn't "just change it" like you wanted.

tryanmax said...

LL, you'll appreciate this:

I came across this exchange between Jeffery Lord and a CNN host that perfectly illustrates how different people can think at completely different levels. The reporter, of course, is at the lower level. Observe.

JOHN BERMAN: Do you think the president-elect (Trump) went far enough today disavowing this neo-nazi group that spoke just a few blocks from the White House? Or do you think he should hold a news conference? Do you think he should look at a camera and say it out loud?

JEFFREY LORD: No, no, no. They're not worth the attention. They're Nazis. They're socialists, right? They're Nazis, being the National Socialist Workers Party or whatever it was called. No. Don't give them the time of day. One of the things that I've been talking about identity politics for years as being racist, and this is exactly why, is that everybody gave a pass to other groups talking about their racial identity, and this was the be all and end all. And now suddenly up pop a group of white people. This is exactly what happens. The left sort of provoked this. This is a really disgusting thing.

BERMAN: But Jeffrey -- sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. What did the left do here? They didn't hold the meeting at the Reagan Center over the weekend?

LORD: The left, whether it's Black Lives Matter or La Raza, I mean you can go back and back and back. Groups that identify themselves by race provoked this group to identify by race. This is America.

Anthony said...

1) Is Bella Hadid important for some reason?

2) Like I said yesterday I think she is smearing the Ritz Carson out of pique over something trivial and nonracial.

3) As with Obama, people aren't going to turn on Trump because the opposition finds the right attack (such attacks stoke the fires of the fringe but that is about it) but based on what he does and doesn't do and how it contrasts with his promises.

4) Along those lines once the public turns on Trump, being anti-Trump will be enough for legislators (I will reign him in!). Like Obama, Bush II and Clinton the public might still decide it likes Trump more than his 2020 opponent.

Raising the minimum wage is insane but the public (Republican and Democrat) seems to have its heart set on the idea of government intervention raising standards of living so I wouldn't be shocked if it proved popular.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony,

Bella is just the latest in a string of celebs who have been subject to recent "but I'm a nice person" articles. I always find it interesting when celebrities try to fix their image with these seemingly random interviews about how nice/smart/etc. they are. The truth is always the opposite, and these things are always cynically done, but they interest me from a PR perspective -- both the why they need them and how they do them.

Ann Hathaway, a notorious monster, recently had a whole campaign designed to make her out as a nice person. It didn't work. Kim Kardashian recently had a "I hate celebrity and just want privacy" PR campaign. A couple years ago, Alicia Silverstone and Hillary Swank had "she's sooo smart" campaigns when word got out that they are true morons.

Almost daily, you get some model trying to insulate herself from her own oblivious smugness by announcing that she was bullied/anorexic/sexually abused. The timing is always suspicious on these.

Males don't seem to go this route. They all wrap themselves in their families when they need to dig out of a bit of trouble. "I'm such a good dad... ignore the fact I got arrested doing blow off the body of a dead transexual hooker."

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I think there are two things going on.

First, the report is oblivious, as you note. He function on the most basic level of cause and effect and can't conceive of secondary effects.

Secondly, he's reflexively trained to doubt/contest anything that lays blame on the left.

AndrewPrice said...

LL, I think so too, but this has been the black celebrity playbook. Get in trouble, scream racism.

BevfromNYC said...

An the $15 minimum wage issue - Oh, now this was so umpredictable...blah, blah, blah. The question that was never answered even though I asked it repeatedly whenever this comes up as NY is in the process of raising to $15 min (already full min wage jobs are disappearing when adding the full-time insurance mandate)...
Anyhoo, my question - when the min wage is raised to $15 for inexperienced/new hires, what happens to long time/experienced employees who being paid $15@hour?

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, They get the privilege of moving right back to the bottom rung for the sake of ideology. And they better work their butts off to stay ahead of the job swallowing monster the political class has unleashed.

Anthony said...

I'm glad Trump is keeping himself entertained while the rest of the GOP tries to draw up a healthcare reform bill.

https://m.townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2017/06/29/trump-calls-msnbc-hosts-low-iq-psycho-n2348416

President Donald Trump took to Twitter early on Thursday morning and called MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and "Psycho Joe." He then shared how, despite their frequent criticism of his presidency, the pair frequented his estate at Mar-a-Lago for "3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve" and spent time with him. Trump also said that Brzezinski was "bleeding badly" from plastic surgery.

tryanmax said...

"Psycho Joe" LOL! That's a good one! That could stick! And now everyone's looking at Mika's face for evidence of a face lift! Brilliant!

LL said...

"I'm such a good dad... ignore the fact I got arrested doing blow off the body of a dead transexual hooker."

Yes, that is a tired, well worn excuse in Hollywood but it seems to play well with the elite, smug, progressive media.

Hillary Clinton tried six or seven resets during her recent campaign to try and find a formula that would not make her look like a shrewish, wicked, angry, nasty bitch -- and she was furious when America didn't buy it and elected Donald Trump instead of her.

I've found the Trump Presidency and the liberal grand mal seizures daily to be entertaining. Who needs the Kardashians and tranny daddy when you can watch a daily press briefing? The Kardashians will need to go big or go home. I'm guessing (and it's just a guess at this point) that they'll visit a Tijuana 'dog and pony' show and one of the Kardashians - likely Kim - will star in the show. Will it improve ratings? I can't say. Worth a try.

BevfromNYC said...

And further to that LL - Have you noticed how the Kardashians and "Housewives" show "talent" have kind of disappeared off the radar? The entertainment/Media just isn't that interested in reality stars who aren't DT. Heck, the NY Daily News finally changed their e-newspaper app to remove the prominent photo of Kimye.

Frankly, if DT does only 1 thing right, it is getting people to lose interest in reality show "celebrities" and reality shows in general.

AndrewPrice said...

So Greta Van Sustern has been fired by MSNBC, and Megyn Kelly's ratings are in the toilet and falling.

Me thinks that being on Fox was the bigger factor than their individual personalities.

ArgentGale said...

1. I'm only vaguely familiar with her but I'd think at this point people's expectations for celebrities can't get much lower.

2. That's certainly telling when it comes to her claims and is a fitting follow up to yesterday's post. And people wonder why the public is so skeptical of racism claims these days.

3a. It's always some kind of ism or phobia with the left, isn't it? See above comment.

3b. I'm not surprised that they're having her push their narrative, but it doesn't look like she's any more convincing selling it than anyone else they have.

4. Yep, heard about that on Facebook and it's not surprising to anyone who has a grasp of basic economics. Higher minimum wage arguments get shot down quickly on social media around these parts and seems to be regarded as whining.

- Daniel

Tennessee Jed said...

ansolutely agree

AndrewPrice said...

DAMMIT! LINK

A group of racist white cops just beat an unarmed white male who was doing nothing wrong except leading them on a high speed chase after allegedly stealing some purses. He was even trying to surrender as they started beating and kicking him!! Outrageous! They wouldn't have done this to an Asian!

Now we need to march and whine about how the cops are hunting white men in the street.

I'm too darn tired to march!!!!!

Damn you, racist cops.

Oh wait, that's right! I don't defend the conduct of criminals and I don't get upset when idiots reap what they sow. So I will instead wish this turd ill and I will tell him that's lucky that he didn't run into this woman instead: I would never convict her!

Koshcat said...

Call me crazy but running him down seems a little bit excessive. She could plead not guilty due to insanity from progesterone poisoning.

After this, I'm going to demand a 3 day cooling off period before anyone use their car.

Koshcat said...

There is so much wrong with that car chase. These police are not professional and could have caused more harm than the purse snatcher ever could. How many nazi police are needed to handcuff one idiot? I would fire about 2/3 of them. And the police wonder why some people don't respect them.

Anthony said...

I could be wrong, but I don't recall Black Lives Matter ever protesting a mere beating.

Beatings are pretty much administered at the discretion of police officers A) once someone resists or B) if it is believed the person committed a serious crime.

Only if the cops catch and beat the wrong guy (one who failed to resist this fulfilling neither of the conditions that make beatings permissible) do they face blowback.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Burning-Man-Beaten-Police-Officers-Jersey-City-Chase-Was-Innocent-Bystander-427098313.html

An innocent man was beaten by cops after a police chase and shooting that ended in a fiery crash in Jersey City Sunday night, prosecutors say.
The man seen on video being kicked by officers on Tonnelle Avenue turned out to be a bystander who suffered burns in the crash -- not the driver that police officers were pursuing, according to the Hudson County prosecutor's office. 
"Our investigators have reviewed the video and we believe with certainty that this man is the bystander from West New York who suffered burns, not Leo Pinkston, the individual pursued by police," said a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. 
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop says he wants the officers fired.

Critch said...

McDonald's has had a store in Seymour, MO for sometime that is pretty much automated....why? Well, the area is heavily Amish and Mennonite...they only work on farms...so there's little if any labor pool....so they went to kiosks...I love it,,,never got the wrong order...

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